Of the Darkness
by Higuchimon
Summary: [au: vampires, 25/25] Shou invites his brother in after Ryou returns from a long trip away. That is his first mistake. It only gets worse from there.
1. Invitation Inside

**Disclaimer:** I own nothing involved in this story unless I invented it myself. This is written for fun, not for profit. All forms of feedback eagerly accepted. Concrit is loved the most, but everything is welcome.  
 **Fandom:** Yu-Gi-Oh GX  
 **Title:** Of the Darkness: Chapter 1: Invitation Inside  
 **Family:** Ryou  & Shou  
 **Other Characters:** Camula  
 **Woord Count:** chapter: 1,140|| **story:** 1,140  
 **Genre:** Family, Supernatural|| **Rated:** PG-13  
 **Challenge:** Written for the Diversity Writing Challenge, section J, #006, multi-chapter with 15-25 chapters; Written for the One Sibling Boot Camp, prompt #50, shade  
 **Notes:** It's an AU. It involves vampires.  
 **Summary:** Shou invites his brother in after Ryou returns from a long trip away. That is his first mistake. It only gets worse from there.

* * *

Rain poured down from the featureless sky, coated from horizon to horizon with thick stormclouds laced with blue-white darts of lightning. Fires remained burning only by the sheerest of good luck. All travelers remained tucked into inns or wherever they could get shelter, be it in a convenient cave or anywhere they could beg floorspace from.

Which was why when there came a heavy beating on the door to the mansion, Shou hurried toward it. One thought alone rang through his mind at the sound: _Big Brother!_

It had to be Ryou. Who else would try to come here during this kind of storm? Four days it had raged, and five days since Ryou left in the first place. Shou had spent every one of those days perched at one of the windows that gave a view of the outside, hoping that he could get a glimpse of his brother returning home.

Servants came toward the door as well, but Shou beat them all there. He was short for his age, but he scampered along fast enough to get there first, swinging the heavy stone door open.

There in the doorway stood someone who could only be Marufuji Ryou, though on a first glance, it wouldn't have been that surprising if anyone didn't recognize him. Rain-soaked hair plastered to his scalp, every inch of his clothes soaked through, and looking pale as death itself. Shou didn't wait for a moment.

"Get in here!" Shou beckoned him in, then whirled around to stare at the nearest servant. "Get a hot bath going! And something for him to wear! And something to eat, too!"

"No," Ryou murmured, his voice drained, but still in tones of habitual command. "Nothing to eat. I'm … fine."

Shou didn't know if he should trust that, but he figured they could always put something together after his brother changed and rested. What was important was getting him out of those wet clothes before he caught some sort of massive cold. He might have already; it looked as if he'd spent ever moment of his time out there in the rain.

"Well, you're still going to get a bath and changed," Shou declared, setting his hands on his hips and giving his older brother his best look. It wasn't nearly as good as the looks Ryou could give him when he'd done something stupid, but he tried his best.

Ryou returned a small, tight smile, one that didn't show any teeth and didn't quite seem to touch his eyes. He put up no argument when it came to bathing and changing, stripping out of his soaked clothes and wrapping up in a blanket that one of the servants brought as he sat before one of the fires that still managed to burn.

Shou fluttered around him like a butterfly, toweling him off and working a comb through his hair. Shou wouldn't have dared to do this to his brother under any other circumstances, but Ryou didn't seem inclined to move a great deal, so Shou made up for it.

"The bath is ready, sirs," the maid in charge of that announced. Shou wished he were a little taller, so he could give his brother a hand.

Perhaps that wasn't so necessary, though, as Ryou rose to his feet and moved with liquid grace toward the door. He'd always moved easily, no matter how tired or injured he was, but now he seemed almost boneless. He didn't even seem as tired as Shou thought he should be after his trek outside.

 _I hope he tells me what happened._ Ryou still seemed pale, but Shou decided that was probably from the ceaseless pounding of the rain and not nearly enough food to eat. Any supplies Ryou had taken with him likely hadn't survived the first deluge, and who knew where his horse had ended up.

A little curious on that matter, he hurried down the corridor to the stable once he'd made certain his brother was firmly sunk up to his eyebrows in hot water. He considered them lucky to even be able to get to the stable without going outside, especially in weather like this. Apparently one of their ancestors wanted to visit his steeds without having to worry about getting himself wet no matter the weather.

"No, I haven't seen your brother, sir," the stablemaster reported, turning to face Shou from where he stared out into the murky depths of the storm. "But I would be more surprised if he'd made it back with his horse in this kind of weather. All kinds of holes a beast could step in and break its neck, or worse."

Shou nodded; he'd ask Ryou about the horse later. Ryou tended to be good about his mounts and he didn't look in the slightest as if he'd had any falls. It wasn't anything to worry about. He'd rather worry about making certain Ryou got enough food before much longer.

* * *

Ryou closed his eyes, letting the warmth of the water sink into him. Or trying to let it to; he hadn't been warm in forever. At least it felt like that. He hadn't had a very good sense of time since he'd looked into deep red eyes and felt unnaturally strong hands on his arms, pulling him off his horse.

He'd lied to Shou. He was hungry. More than hungry, he was _starving_ and yet nothing that he could imagine stirred his appetite.

Nothing he wanted to imagine, either. His neck throbbed and he breathed, letting himself spin away. He wanted to do something else, but he didn't know what. He had to fill that emptiness in the depths of his stomach, but he didn't know how.

 _Feed, my child. Feed._

He shook his head, looking around. "Who's there?"

He received no answer. The room was well-lit, many brightly burning candles pushing back the dark. His eyes stung at the sight of them and he looked away. He'd been outside too long, that was all that it was.

"My lord?" One of the servants tapped on the door, not waiting for him to give permission before entering. Ryou didn't care; most of them had seen him growing up anyway. He carried a fresh change of clothes over one arm and set those down on the nearby table. "Are you certain you don't want anything to eat?"

Ryou's eyes drifted to the old servant's neck. He could see a vein fluttering there. Without even realizing it, he rose to his feet. "I think I could use a little something."

"What would you like? I'm certain the kitchen can still put something good together even now."

Ryou's feet made no sound on the stone floor. No thoughts at all entered his mind. There was only hunger and need.

"My lor-"

And then the feeding began.

 **To Be Continued**


	2. Serving Servants

**Disclaimer:** I own nothing involved in this story unless I invented it myself. This is written for fun, not for profit. All forms of feedback eagerly accepted. Concrit is loved the most, but everything is welcome.  
 **Fandom:** Yu-Gi-Oh GX  
 **Title:** Of the Darkness: Chapter 2: Serving Servants  
 **Family:** Ryou  & Shou  
 **Other Characters:** Camula  
 **Word Count:** chapter: 1,081|| **story:** 2,221  
 **Genre:** Family, Supernatural|| **Rated:** PG-13  
 **Challenge:** Written for the Diversity Writing Challenge, section J, #006, multi-chapter with 15-25 chapters; Written for the One Sibling Boot Camp, prompt #50, shade  
 **Notes:** It's an AU. It involves vampires.  
 **Summary:** Shou invites his brother in after Ryou returns from a long trip away. That is his first mistake. It only gets worse from there.

* * *

He genuinely wanted to hate the taste of blood as it slipped down his throat. Unfortunately, that wasn't an option. The more he tasted, the more he wanted, and the more he took. A tiny part of him, cold and unemotional, whispered that it was better that he drained this old servant, surely due to die in a few years anyway, instead of someone else.

Instead of Shou.

Ryou shoved his thoughts away from that idea and fed stronger on the servant, whose struggles grew weaker moment by moment. Not that they'd been very strong to start with, and soon enough they faded altogether.

Far too soon, at least according to the part of himself that drained the blood and loved every moment of it, there was nothing left of the servant but a bloodless husk. Ryou drew in a stuttering, unnecessary breath and rubbed at his mouth and face. An almost absent glance down showed him streaks of blood, ones that he cleaned up without a second thought.

He needed to get rid of the body. He needed to do it in such a way that no one would know what he'd done.

 _This is wrong._ He'd killed before, mostly in battle, but this wasn't a fight at all. He'd sucked every ounce of blood from this man's body and he didn't _feel_ anything about it other than mild annoyance than he had to deal with the aftermath.

Regardless of what he felt or didn't feel, he _did_ need to do something about this body. There would be too many questions if anyone else saw it.

The door swung open again and Ryou's head snapped up, every muscle in his body taut and strained. In the doorway stood another servant, this one carrying a tray from which wafted several odors that would once have tempted his appetite beyond reason.

"M'lord, the young master sent these for you, he said to -" The words froze on his tongue at the sight of the proud heir to the Marufuji family, wearing little besides a few beads of bathwater, holding a dead body in his arms. "M… m'lord?"

 _Take his mind. Make it yours._

Ryou did not know where the voice came from and thinking about it for more than a second made his neck throb once more. Instead, he caught the new servant's gaze and in a way he could not begin to describe, wrapped his will around the other's and crushed it.

"Leave the food," Ryou said as all the resistance flowed away. "Take this and get rid of it. Make certain no one sees you. If you have to wait until the rain stops, then keep the body out of sight until then. Make up whatever excuses you need to, but keep my name and where you found it out of this completely."

The servant nodded, setting the tray of food on a nearby table, and then coming to take the body away. Ryou did not relax until the door closed behind him. In all truth, he didn't think he relaxed then. He just didn't have a dead body or stray blood to worry about.

He finished up his bath and pulled on the dry clothes. The more time that passed, the less he let himself worry about what had happened. He'd done what he needed to do. He had to feed and what he could eat had changed. He hadn't done anything wrong. The servants were his – and Shou's – to do with as they pleased anyway. The old man hadn't had more than a handful of years left in him, he hadn't had any living relatives that Ryou knew about, and storms like this tended to leave him with colds that risked his life anyway.

He'd done nothing wrong. Nothing at all.

Deep down inside, in a part of his mind that remained little more than a small voice screaming in rage, he wanted to think something entirely different. That small voice _did_ think something entirely different. But he paid it no mind. There were other things that he needed to take care of now, such as the tray of food.

He wouldn't touch it. It would do him no good and would likely make him sick anyway. So he scattered what he could out the window, threw more of it into the fire, and left it in a condition that would pass for having been eaten.

 _I should thank Fubuki for this,_ he thought vaguely. It had been some time since he'd seen his old friend, and more since the childhood visits that led him to knowing little deceptions like this.

It _would_ be a good idea to ask Fubuki and Yuusuke to visit. Perhaps a friend or two of Shou's as well. What was that one young man, with all the muscles? Kenzan, that was it. He would see what Shou thought about having company once the rain passed. It would _have_ to wait until then. Messengers couldn't get out until then.

Thunder rolled, a few clawed fingers of lightning flashing by the window slits, casting shadows. For a few brief moments, Ryou thought he saw those shadows move in a way that the wind couldn't account for. Even when the light faded, the shadows slipped and danced around him, a low chuckle echoing back from the tapestry-hung walls.

 _That's right, my love. Bring them here to me. To us._ He could feel fingers running through his scalp, tracing down his neck, touching where the pain hurt the most. _You need more food. And perhaps a few friends as well._

Ryou breathed hard. He knew that he didn't need it but he did anyway. He wanted to rip the hand away from him, to throw the owner of it out the window, to claim back the humanity taken from him.

What he did was dust himself off a little and start toward the door. Thankfully no one else had come since the last servant took the body away. He would have to locate that one and give a few more permanent orders to make certain no one thought anything strange.

Perhaps he could be the one to send the messages to gather up the ones he wished to see. Yes. That sounded like a very good idea.

But first to broach the matter to Shou. He didn't want to do this without his brother's agreement.

And Shou would agree. He might not know why, but he would.

 **To Be Continued**


	3. Viscious Voice

**Disclaimer:** I own nothing involved in this story unless I invented it myself. This is written for fun, not for profit. All forms of feedback eagerly accepted. Concrit is loved the most, but everything is welcome.  
 **Fandom:** Yu-Gi-Oh GX  
 **Title:** Of the Darkness: Chapter 3: Viscious Voice  
 **Family:** Ryou  & Shou  
 **Other Characters:** Camula  
 **Word Count:** **chapter:** 1,269|| **story:** 3,490  
 **Genre:** Family, Supernatural|| **Rated:** PG-13  
 **Challenge:** Written for the Diversity Writing Challenge, section J, #006, multi-chapter with 15-25 chapters; Written for the One Sibling Boot Camp, prompt #50, shade **Notes:** It's an AU. It involves vampires.  
 **Summary:** Shou invites his brother in after Ryou returns from a long trip away. That is his first mistake. It only gets worse from there.

* * *

Shou nibbled on the food the servants had brought him, casting quick glances every few moments to the corridor that led to Ryou's personal room. There'd been some kind of noise down that way just a little while earlier, but he hadn't been able to tell what it was, and he didn't really want to interrupt Ryou while he was eating. Whatever had happened on his trip, he needed rest to get himself back into condition.

 _I wonder if he'll tell me what happened._ The trip had been an important one; it would've had to be in order for Ryou to go out with such a huge storm threatening. Shou hadn't been certain that anyone should go at all, but Ryou insisted, and he was the head of the family.

At least what family they had left. Just the two of them didn't make up a very big family.

At any rate, Ryou had gone out, and Shou waited for him to come back, and the storm came, the rain fell, and it fell, and it hadn't stopped falling, and for all Shou could tell it might never stop. He wished that they had some kind of a weather mage who could give them something that resembled hope. But their lands weren't what they used to be.

That was one of the reasons Ryou had gone out in the first place. One of the few villages that still held a strong loyalty to the mansion and the Marufujis within it sent word that some kind of monster preyed on their people and livestock. Ryou, always a strong warrior, wanted to see if he could find any trace of it.

 _I doubt if he saw so much as a footprint. Not in weather like this._ Only Ryou could say for certain and until he recovered from his drenching, he wouldn't say anything at all.

"Shou."

One startled squeak and a tray of food scattered over the floor later, Shou wrenched around to stare at the corridor and his much dryer brother. "Where did … how did you do that?" Shou _knew_ that Ryou had always been soft-footed, but he'd not heard so much as a _step_.

Ryou only looked at him, one eyebrow rising in that way that he had, and moved over to him. "The storm should end soon."

"Huh?" Shou blinked and shook his head, trying to get his thoughts put into order. "What? How do you know?" Not even the greatest weather mage could've guessed that. One might be able to tell if it would end in a week or so but 'soon'?

Even when Ryou stepped on the flagstones, he made no sound at all. The more Shou considered it, the stranger it was. "That doesn't matter. I want to send someone to bring a few friends to visit. We haven't had company in a long time."

Shou blinked even more. That wasn't even close to the conversation that he'd thought they would be having. "Big brother, what did you find out down below? Are the villagers all right? Did you find out anything about the monster?"

"It wasn't anything for them to worry about," Ryou replied, not looking at Shou. His attention seemed focused elsewhere entirely, but Shou couldn't guess on what. There didn't seem to be anything else for him to look at except the crackling fire. "What do you think? Would you like your friend Kenzan to come for a while?"

Shou rubbed the back of his head, trying to work out what was going on in his brother's mind. "I guess." He'd received a letter from Kenzan just a month earlier, telling all about his experiences in the southern part of the kingdom, and mentioning an attractive young lady he'd met as well. "Why, though? I mean, you don't really go out of your way to invite people."

"I already said that it's been too long since we had company," Ryou pointed out in a maddeningly calm voice. Shou nodded with a bit of reluctance. Just because that was true didn't mean his worries eased. Ryou wasn't ever this detached from things. While he could be – and usually was – aloof and with his mind on more important matters than visiting friends, this just struck a wrong chord deep within Shou.

 _Maybe they can help me figure it out?_ Fubuki and Yuusuke had known Ryou since the three were young children, all of them fostering for a few years together. If anyone would be able to tell if something was wrong with Ryou, then it would be them.

"You're right," Shou finally said, when his brother tilted his head toward him in expectation of an answer. "I'll write a letter to Kenzan."

He was a little tempted to try for _another_ friend as well, Prince Juudai himself. The prince knew all manner of strange magics and unusual creatures, not to mention that his guardian was one of those unusual creatures.

 _No. This isn't important enough to tell him about._ Besides, there wasn't any way their mansion was suitable for the prince to stay for more than a single night, and that only in dire circumstances.

He started to get up; if the weather really was going to clear up soon, then he wanted to have the letter ready as soon as possible. He stopped before leaving the room, though, another thought tugging on his mind.

"I heard some noise coming from your room before. Is everything all right?" Sometimes some of the servants tried to take liberties, giving orders to the two young men. Shou usually didn't mind himself, but Ryou could be difficult on occasion. If that was all it was, he still wanted to know.

Ryou glanced toward him and for a single moment, Shou thought that his eyes, normally a cool shade of blue-green much like his hair, gleamed brilliant scarlet. He took a quick, unsteady step back, stifling the fear in his throat.

"Of course it is. I was only having something to eat." He glanced away and Shou swallowed, forcing the fear that still choked him back down.

That was all it was. Ryou having his dinner. One of the servants would have to pick the tray up later. There wasn't anything at all to worry about.

Shou told himself that over and over, even as he nodded and hurried down the corridor to his room, and deep in the thudding depths of his heart, he realized that for the first time in his life, he was very glad that his room and Ryou's were at least two corridors away from one another.

* * *

There wasn't any denying it this time. Someone else was _there_ , even if Ryou couldn't see who it was. The laughter in his mind rang too clear and with a shadow of dark amusement that he would never feel.

 _Who are you?_ He wanted to speak the words out loud, but it was as if a hand lay against his throat, keeping him from doing so. _What do you want?_

 **You don't remember me, my little doll.** It was a woman's voice, one that sent chills all through him as nothing in his life ever had. **I haven't wanted you to.**

As before, he could feel fingers tracing through his hair. No matter how hard he tried, he couldn't escape the touch.

 **Relax yourself, precious one. We have much to take care of before you're ready to join me. I so look forward to seeing you in your full glory.**

 _Who are you?_ he demanded once again, and her laugh echoed all through him.

 **Camula.**

 **To Be Continued**


	4. Warning Whispers

**Disclaimer:** I own nothing involved in this story unless I invented it myself. This is written for fun, not for profit. All forms of feedback eagerly accepted. Concrit is loved the most, but everything is welcome.  
 **Fandom:** Yu-Gi-Oh GX  
 **Title:** Of the Darkness: Chapter 4: Warning Whispers  
 **Family:** Ryou  & Shou  
 **Other Characters:** Camula  
 **Word Count:** chapter: 1,134|| **story:** 4,624  
 **Genre:** Family, Supernatural|| **Rated:** PG-13  
 **Challenge:** Written for the Diversity Writing Challenge, section J, #006, multi-chapter with 15-25 chapters; Written for the One Sibling Boot Camp, prompt #50, shade **Notes:** It's an AU. It involves vampires.  
 **Summary:** Shou invites his brother in after Ryou returns from a long trip away. That is his first mistake. It only gets worse from there.

* * *

"M'lord Shou?" A nervous hand tapped at the door as one of the higher ranked servants spoke. Shou looked up from where he'd been working on his letter to Kenzan. "May I speak with you for a moment, m'lord?"

"What is it?" Shou turned all the way around, more than a little curious. The servants didn't usually interrupt when he was busy, so this had to be important.

The chief maid stepped more into the room, worry clear in her eyes. "M'lord, something strange is happening. In the last two days, two or three of the servants have...have vanished altogether."

Shou blinked and frowned. "What do you mean?" He hadn't noticed anyone being missing, but he'd been up to his ears getting his letter written and taking care of all of his other duties, and being more than a little surprised to find that the weather really was clearing off, just like Ryou said it would. "Are they running away?"

She shook her head, one hand pressed to her mouth, as if scared to even let the words out. "No, m'lord. They would've taken things with them. Their clothes or even stolen money or jewels." Not that there were many jewels to steal around here, but Shou understood what she meant. "But they didn't. They just _vanish_. It's like in the middle of their duties, something just took them away."

Shou bit his lip. He didn't like the sound of that. "I'll talk to my brother about it." Ryou would have to make the decisions on what to do. He wouldn't like this any more than Shou himself did.

For a moment she looked as if she would say something else. Then she nodded, bending her head further in the usual show of respect. "Thank you, m'lord Shou. And… please be careful. Whatever is doing this probably would take anyone else. Not just servants."

He nodded, more to reassure her than anything else. He kind of thought himself that if whatever it was doing this confined itself to servants, then it would be silly to suddenly attack one of the family members.

 _How could something like that get in here, anyway? Where would it come from?_ There were all manner of strange monsters and demons loose in the world and always had been. That was one of the reasons the royal family always held a certain amount of power and ability to deal with them.

Most of those beings had to deal with the same troubles a human did, having to eat and sleep at the very least. That could cause problems _for_ humans as well, since not a few of the creatures fed on humans. If this was one of those, that definitely would explain why the servants vanished.

He stared down at the letter and realized he wasn't going to get another word written until he talked to Ryou about this. Not to mention that this was probably something they should clear up before anyone came to visit _anyway_.

His lips twitched for a moment. The thought of Kenzan facing some monster provided a lot of entertainment all on its own. Burly and well-trained in the use of every muscle he owned, Kenzan would make even most monsters stop and think about it before attacking him.

For that matter, most monsters would stop and think about it because Kenzan was a monster himself.

Still, it would be rude to invite anyone while they had personal troubles, so he headed off to Ryou's room.

"Ryou?" Shou tapped politely on the door. "I need to talk to you, are you in there?"

Noises of some kind, footsteps, sounded from the other side. Shou wondered who was in there with him, but didn't have a chance to think of it for long, as the door swung open. Standing there was one of the servants, who bowed the moment the door was clear enough.

"M'lord Shou," he murmured. "Your brother has stepped out for a few moments. He'll return soon and wishes for you to wait here for him."

Shou blinked. Both of their rooms had doors leading to the outside, but why would Ryou just leave like that? There was something odd going on here as well and it had nothing to do with disappearing servants.

The servant bowed and hurried away before Shou thought to ask him anything else. Shou stepped into the room and looked around a little curiously. He hadn't spent that much time in Ryou's private room and he'd always kind of wondered what it was like.

On the whole, it was much like he'd always imagined it would be. Tapestries of powerful and beautiful metallic dragons, the long-time symbol of the Marufuji family, hung on three of the four walls. The fourth wall contained something else altogether: a painting done by the famous artist Maeda Hayato, displaying Ryou, Fubuki, and Yuusuke, as well as the signs of their three families. The Marufuji metallic dragon, the Tenjoin black dragon, and Yuusuke's spectacular warrior angel all gleamed in brilliant, perfect colors.

Standing here made Shou more than a little nervous, even with permission. Ryou simply didn't let most people inside of his room. It might've been better if he were there; then Shou could've focused on talking to him instead of where he was.

Shou moved over to the nearest window and glanced outside. The broad expanse of the family gardens stretched out there, with many servants moving around, tending to the various plants. Most of them looked in decent condition, even given the storm, and Shou whispered thanks for that to the Kind Darkness under his breath. If these were doing well enough, then the farms would be as well.

"Shou?"

What came out of Shou's mouth this time wasn't at all quiet, though it was very, very fervent. One side of Ryou's mouth quirked up at that. "Did I surprise you?"

"You always do," Shou grumbled, coming away from the window. "But there's something we need to talk about."

All he got for that was a slightly raised eyebrow. Ryou seldom wasted words. Shou launched into his explanation of what the servant told him of the missing others, and his own worry that some kind of monster might've unknowingly slipped into the mansion. Ryou considered his words.

"It's the same kind of thing that happened in the village," he said after a few thoughtful moments. "Perhaps there was more than one of them. It could've followed me back here."

Shou shivered at the thought. Ryou hadn't yet mentioned what he thought such a creature was, but he didn't like the sound of it anyway. "So what do we do to stop it?"

"I don't know," Ryou admitted. Shou winced; if his big brother didn't know, then could they do anything?

 **To Be Continued**


	5. Planning Plans

**Disclaimer:** I own nothing involved in this story unless I invented it myself. This is written for fun, not for profit. All forms of feedback eagerly accepted. Concrit is loved the most, but everything is welcome.  
 **Fandom:** Yu-Gi-Oh GX  
 **Title:** Of the Darkness: Chapter 5: Planning Plans  
 **Family:** Ryou  & Shou  
 **Other Characters:** Camula  
 **Word Count:** chapter: 1,197|| **story:** 5,821  
 **Genre:** Family, Supernatural|| **Rated:** PG-13  
 **Challenge:** Written for the Diversity Writing Challenge, section J, #006, multi-chapter with 15-25 chapters; Written for the One Sibling Boot Camp, prompt #50, shade  
 **Notes:** It's an AU. It involves vampires.  
 **Summary:** Shou invites his brother in after Ryou returns from a long trip away. That is his first mistake. It only gets worse from there.

* * *

"Just what was it in that village anyway?" Shou wanted to know, eyes flicking from various points around the room to his brother. "You never have said."

Ryou moved a little more into the room. Shou still could not believe how silent his footsteps were. It almost seemed as if his feet didn't touch the floor at all.

The closer Ryou got to him, the more Shou's spine tingled and his instincts prickled at him to move back. The only time in his life he could remember having felt like this before was when he'd been six years old and trapped by a mountain lion in the reaches outside the mansion.

 _That's ridiculous. Ryou's not a mountain lion._ And yet his brother did move with a predator's silence. It was a trick Shou had never been able to acquire himself and he'd never been certain if he wanted to.

Just like he had back then, Shou wanted to make himself as small as possible, to find a tiny little hiding hole and wait for the horrible thing that wanted to eat him to go away and leave him be. He reminded himself over and over that Ryou wasn't going to eat him. Ryou just _wouldn't_.

"A vampire," Ryou said, bringing Shou's attention back to what was going on around him. "But a traveling one without a set home. It moved onward."

Shou didn't find himself all that reassured. Vampires weren't inherently evil, not like some things he could think of, but the idea of bloodsucking beasts that fed off the living didn't give him any restful nights. "So if there was another one and it followed you, or that one followed you..."

"It's possible," Ryou acknowledged, his lips turning downward. "I'll explore the mansion and see what I can find." He turned his attention back on Shou and for a moment, Shou wondered if the firelight were causing problems with his vision. Ryou's eyes looked as if they gleamed scarlet instead of blue…

He shook that off in a heartbeat. This talk about vampires, little as it had been, was already doing things to his imagination. If there was one roaming the castle, then they needed to get rid of it as fast as possible. That went for whatever it was making servants vanish, but a vampire more than most.

"Let me know if anything turns up?" Shou was more than willing to let Ryou handle the vampires. He'd clearly already done so once, if only by talking to it. Maybe. Ryou hadn't exactly been forthcoming on exactly how he knew what he knew about the one in the village.

Ryou nodded and gestured for Shou to head out ahead of him. Shou moved on without asking the question that hovered over his lips and before he'd crossed the threshold, the very thought of digging more into what happened in the village faded out of his mind in favor of finishing his letter to Kenzan.

* * *

As Shou left, Ryou closed the door behind himself. No sooner was he alone in the room than he could feel **her** there again, her awareness focused on him as it always was when he was by himself.

 **He suspects things, my precious one.**

Ryou's shoulders tightened and he moved closer to the window. He always felt as if he couldn't get enough air whenever she spoke to him. He knew by now that he didn't need air anymore, but the sensation of not having enough wasn't one he liked regardless.

"Leave him alone," he murmured. He didn't know if he needed to talk for her to hear him. But he kept his voice down anyway, not wanting to get anyone else's attention. Once already a servant had heard him speak to her. That one had become his second meal.

They were noticing. He wasn't surprised at that; it would happen sooner or later. There weren't but that many servants in the mansion and if he fed on one a day, then their absence would show up.

 **Oh, I won't touch him.** Camula's laugh echoed between his ears and he clenched his fists. If she were there in person, he would've destroyed his entire room in a chance to kill her. But he didn't know _where_ she was, other than clinging to his mind where he didn't want her.

Those fingers brushed through his hair. He didn't know why she kept on doing that, only that it seemed to give her some obscure sense of possession and pleasure. Nothing he could do could stop her. That remained true of _everything_ that she did. When she commanded, his body obeyed at once, not even giving him time to think about it.

 **Of course it does, my pet. You are mine. My child, my chosen one, my dear plaything.** Again she laughed. **When you've grown up more, you will be more to me as well.**

Ryou's stomach didn't react the way it had when he was human, but nevertheless, those words made him more than a little queasy. He tried to keep himself focused on Shou. "Don't make me hurt him." He wouldn't worry about that at all if she hadn't already tweaked him here and there to keep Shou's mind away from thoughts he was clearly already entertaining. Those he didn't object much to, because he didn't want to scare his brother with the facts about what he was.

Not to mention that more than anything, he wanted Yuusuke and Fubuki to arrive there safely, along with Kenzan. The three of them could figure out what was going on. Yuusuke, a shadow mage, knew all there was to know about creatures such as he was now, and Fubuki had his own share of experiences with such things. And Kenzan? Kenzan's habit of becoming a savage lizard twice the size of a human could prove a formidable bodyguard for Shou.

 **Now that will all depend on what he does. He's useful at the moment.** He couldn't read her thoughts as she could his, but he knew very well that she understood his plans for his friends, and counted them useless. **But should he prove too stubborn, then you are to make certain he doesn't bring** ** _me_** **harm in any way. If that should mean protecting yourself from him, then so be it. Do whatever you feel that you must, my precious.**

Ryou's head bent without his conscious awareness of wishing to do so. He would do as she wished him to do. Anger seared his skin like fire, but he knew that he would have no choice.

Hunger writhed in his throat and he tensed. He hadn't yet fed today; he'd been discussing that with his enslaved servant when Shou interrupted. Now that he knew they noticed the disappearances, he knew he should move a little farther afield, if only to downplay any suspicions.

 _The village._ It wasn't the one he'd met Camula in, but one much closer to the mansion. He would have to find someone there, and hope that word didn't get back up here too soon. It wasn't much of a hope but right now, it was all that he had.

 **To Be Continued**


	6. Hunter Hunting

**Disclaimer:** I own nothing involved in this story unless I invented it myself. This is written for fun, not for profit. All forms of feedback eagerly accepted. Concrit is loved the most, but everything is welcome.  
 **Fandom:** Yu-Gi-Oh GX  
 **Title:** Of the Darkness: Chapter 6: Hunter Hunting  
 **Family:** Ryou  & Shou  
 **Other Characters:** Camula  
 **Word Count:** chapter: 1,129|| **story:** 6,950  
 **Genre:** Family, Supernatural|| **Rated:** PG-13  
 **Challenge:** Written for the Diversity Writing Challenge, section J, #006, multi-chapter with 15-25 chapters; Written for the One Sibling Boot Camp, prompt #50, shade **Notes:** It's an AU. It involves vampires.  
 **Summary:** Shou invites his brother in after Ryou returns from a long trip away. That is his first mistake. It only gets worse from there.

* * *

He hunted. There was no other word for what he was doing. There were pretty euphemisms but he refused to let himself be lulled by them. He was a hunter. A killer. Whether he wanted to be or not wasn't the point. He _was_.

 **That's right,** Camula cooed in the back of his thoughts. **A lovely killer you are indeed. So very good at it.**

Ryou tried even harder to ignore her. Doing so wasn't at all easy, but he practiced. He could feel her amusement at his doing so and ignored that, too.

It took only a handful of moments for him to arrive in the village. No one who didn't know of a vampire's presence would even suspect him. A normal human would've taken at least two hours to get there on foot alone, and the land wasn't yet dry enough for a horse to gallop all out. Yet he arrived on a misty gust of wind, reshaping himself into a human with a thought alone.

There were a few perks to being a vampire, he thought. Not enough for him to want to stay one if he could change it. But swift travel was swift travel.

It was roughly early evening, the sun already setting behind the mountains, with long shadows stretching out over the land. He slid into those shadows, looking around for any source of food.

He didn't like to think of them as people. He knew they were, but if he thought they were human, then he couldn't do it.

All of his senses worked at a higher level now. He could hear footsteps from much farther away than before, catch and identify scents on the wind, see in the dark even clearer than a human could at high noon on a clear day. All of that worked to bring him what he needed to know: there was a human not that far away, young and healthy, and most importantly, alone.

The entire population of this village couldn't take him down if they tried to, but he didn't want them to try in the first place. Instead, he moved carefully toward the one he'd located, keeping to the shadows and watching as he drew closer.

It was a young man, one that he'd seen before during other trips down this way, apprentice to the local tailor. His eyesight wasn't the best, either, which meant even if he got a look at Ryou, he might not recognize him until it was too late. All to the good.

Ryou didn't have the layout of the village memorized. He made a note to do that as soon as he could. One never knew what might come in handy. At the moment, that simply meant that he didn't know if his chosen target had a given destination in mind or if he were just ambling around stretching his legs. Either way offered risks and dangers.

It wasn't himself he worried about so much as Shou. He knew what he was. He knew he could defend himself. But people had been known to lose control when touched by fear and Shou could get blamed for things he'd had nothing to do with.

Shou wasn't the kind of warrior that he was. He never had been. He could handle himself more or less on a battlefield, but Ryou made a point to see that he never saw them. It wasn't necessary. It wouldn't _be_ necessary.

 **You could make him one of us,** Camula mused as he kept on stalking toward his chosen prey. **Then no matter what, he would be safe.**

He didn't give an answer. The thought had a certain amount of temptation to it, if he wished to be completely honest with himself. No matter his small size, if Shou were a vampire, then his strength, speed, and skills would be expanded to the point he could easily fend for himself.

No. Ryou would not do that. He'd never feared death at all and saw no reason to start now, but Shou had a life he had only begun to touch on.

 _When this is done, he can leave here._ Shou hadn't ever complained about the remoteness of the Marufuji mansion, but Ryou knew he wanted to see the wider world. He would do whatever he had to in order to ensure that.

He pulled his attention to the hunt. He didn't want to get distracted and cause his fears to come true. His target stood now on the edge of the village, looking around as if checking for followers. Ryou remained in the darkness, pricks of curiosity teasing at him. Those were answered when the tailor to be slipped off to one side and started for a tiny cottage set a little way off from the main collection of houses.

 _The hunter's home._ He would have to be more careful here. He didn't know the hunter's name, but her skills spoke far more than anything else would have. Rumor had it that she kept the village safe from monsters, having killed many of them over the course of the years.

 **She cannot stand against you, my love.** Camula cooed. **If she poses a threat, dispose of her.**

That was much easier said than done. Ryou eyed his target, reconsidering his options. He still thought he could get to his prey beforehand, but was it worth taking the chance if the hunter could hear him?

He drew in a breath of wind as it tossed from that corner of the area, testing for any sign of scent.

His eyes narrowed the moment that he caught it. _She's not human._

 **No, she isn't.** Camula sounded almost interested in that moment. **She's one of the monster clans. I would have to see her to know who, however.**

Ryou flexed his fingers. There were some of the clans who looked human enough that no one knew they bore monstrous blood until they took flight or fought with a special attack or revealed pointed ears. He'd even heard of some humans and monsters who formed families with one another and had offspring. Rumor had it that the reason the royal family had their skills in magic could be traced back to the crossing of human with non-human.

Hunger clawed at his throat. He didn't dare to wait any longer. If the hunter came out, he would have to take her by surprise and finish her before she could realize what was going on.

The young tailor hadn't reached his destination. Ryou ghosted into smoke and shadows, swirled until he stood behind his prey, and fell back into flesh.

One hand. One curious face turning upward, changing from hope to terror.

And then, there was only hunger and the sating of it.

 **To Be Continued**


	7. Silent Slash

**Disclaimer:** I own nothing involved in this story unless I invented it myself. This is written for fun, not for profit. All forms of feedback eagerly accepted. Concrit is loved the most, but everything is welcome.  
 **Fandom:** Yu-Gi-Oh GX  
 **Title:** Of the Darkness: Chapter 7: Silent Slash  
 **Family:** Ryou  & Shou  
 **Other Characters:** Camula  
 **Word Count:** chapter: 1,097|| **story:** 8,047  
 **Genre:** Family, Supernatural|| **Rated:** PG-13  
 **Challenge:** Written for the Diversity Writing Challenge, section J, #006, multi-chapter with 15-25 chapters; Written for the One Sibling Boot Camp, prompt #50, shade  
 **Notes:** It's an AU. It involves vampires.  
 **Summary:** Shou invites his brother in after Ryou returns from a long trip away. That is his first mistake. It only gets worse from there.

* * *

She didn't like what floated in the air tonight. She wouldn't go so far as to say that she could smell evil or corruption or even darkness – and even if she could've smelled that last, the darkness was hardly totally evil – but she still knew that there something lurked out there tonight that could bring death. That _would_ bring death. Every hunter's instinct she owned whispered of that.

For that reason, she remained near the door, fingering her whip, and wondering when her lover would arrive. She usually spent dark nights like this hunting those creatures that threatened civilized beings – the uncivilized ones could usually protect themselves – but she'd chosen to remain in tonight to spend time with him.

Now she wondered if she'd made the wrong choice.

Carefully, the one known as Chaos Hunter to more people than who knew her by other names cracked the shutters on her window and drew in a soft breath of air. The scent on the wind would tell her if there really was danger out there. She might not know _what_ it was, but she'd know if there was something.

She also wouldn't know if it was something she could deal with herself, but one step at a time.

What caught at her nostrils was the scent of blood. Not just any blood, though she would not call herself an expert in the varied scents of it. But she'd smelled his blood before, due to the many small accidents that he picked up over the course of his tailor's apprenticeship and times he'd watched her training and gotten in the way of a whip strike or dagger slash.

This wasn't the light prickle of blood from those times, easily tended to and forgotten in a matter of hours or days. The scent was too strong for that.

Taking time only to make certain her weapons were in place, Chaos Hunter slipped out of her home and whipped her way through the trees, taking to the high limbs to make certain that whatever it was didn't see her coming. She didn't know what the creature was or how it dared to attack so close to civilization, but she wanted to find out. Only then could she know how to properly attack it.

What she refused to think was what the sight of her love being attacked and shredded might do to her mind.

At first she thought the one figure bent over a prone one was someone there to help. She opened her mouth to call for their attention, but stopped when she heard sounds she seldom had before.

Sucking. Sounds of _drinking_.

That, and the blood so strong in the air, told her all that she needed to know.

 _Vampire._

For the most part, the blood drinkers weren't intolerable neighbors, if one didn't get injured and made certain to be friendly to them. Some people even made a bond with vampires, offering their blood in return for safety. But there were always individuals who preferred hunting 'wild prey' to making such bargains, and those were the ones that she and those like her sought to thin out.

Those were the ones like what she saw now standing up, a satisfied set to thin lips.

Her whip arm came flashing down, ready to knock him back and prepare for another strike, this one with her dagger. She knew the ways of killing a vampire permanently, though she'd never fought one herself.

 _Wood is poison to them. Even a splinter will hurt far more than it would an ordinary being. Metal or leather will do nothing at all to wound, but will serve to distract._ She wasn't armed to fight a vampire and kill it. She would have to just drive it away and begin a proper hunt when she had the tools.

 _Fire will end them._ There were tales of holy objects and rites that could resist a vampire's enchantments and drive one away, but those were more difficult to work. They depended on the vampire's faith in something else being stronger than it. Those vampires who believed they were more powerful than anything in the cosmos were the worst of them all.

All of that passed through her mind in a matter of seconds as her whip came down. The vampire pulled back as it bit into the side of his face, but drew no blood.

 _Of course not. It doesn't have blood of its own, only what it's stolen from others._ She did not grant the creature the honor of being he or she. It might've been once, but no more.

From the general shape, it had once been he. She couldn't get a good look at the face; the creature kept one arm up to shield it. Before she could get close enough, the monster scurried backward into the closest shadows. Chaos Hunter prowled forward a few steps, weapons at the ready, but the darkness closed in around her prey and with a toss of the wind to part the leaves and a glimpse by pale starlight, she could see that the vampire was gone.

 _I'll find you,_ she promised, and turned back to the prone form of her lover, hoping against hope that he would still be alive.

* * *

Ryou clung to the highest cliffs of the mountain. If he'd needed to breathe, he would've been panting. Not in fear; he'd yet to see anything that would make him _fear_. But shock, that was it. He'd not at all expected for the hunter to come out, or to move so quickly, or even to be ready to attack.

He hadn't, and he should have. He'd let himself think only of the blood and he'd let his guard down. He didn't think she'd seen his face, but now she knew there was a vampire around. She would ask questions. She would prod and poke until she got answers that satisfied her.

 **But if you get rid of her first, then there's nothing to fret about. People will ascribe her vanishing to her hunting.** Camula trilled a laugh. **Which would be true.**

Ryou rubbed the side of his face where the whip had struck. Already the small wound had healed. He'd reacted more from surprise than anything else when it hit. There hadn't been that much pain.

 **You're dead, my darling. Nothing can hurt the dead.**

He didn't entirely believe that, but he didn't want to engage in a conversation with her anyway. He needed to get back to the mansion and make plans as soon as he could.

 **To Be Continued**


	8. Rising Risks

**Disclaimer:** I own nothing involved in this story unless I invented it myself. This is written for fun, not for profit. All forms of feedback eagerly accepted. Concrit is loved the most, but everything is welcome.  
 **Fandom:** Yu-Gi-Oh GX  
 **Title:** Of the Darkness: Chapter 8: Rising Risks  
 **Family:** Ryou  & Shou  
 **Other Characters:** Camula  
 **Word Count:** chapter: 1,169|| **story:** 9,216  
 **Genre:** Family, Supernatural|| **Rated:** PG-13  
 **Challenge:** Written for the Diversity Writing Challenge, section J, #006, multi-chapter with 15-25 chapters; Written for the One Sibling Boot Camp, prompt #50, shade  
 **Notes:** It's an AU. It involves vampires.  
 **Summary:** Shou invites his brother in after Ryou returns from a long trip away. That is his first mistake. It only gets worse from there.

* * *

Shou watched as the messenger carrying his letter to Kenzan and Ryou's letters to Fubuki and Yuusuke vanished out of sight, riding under a clear sky and with dry roads. With any luck, they would receive answers inside of a few days, a week or two at the most, depending on how the weather ran. Ryou insisted that it would remain fair, and Shou didn't have much reason to doubt him. Ever since that last storm ended, there had been barely any clouds in the sky at all.

"Shou." His brother stood behind him, having once again arrived without a single footfall to betray him.

"How do you _do_ that?" Shou whipped around to stare up at his brother. "I mean, you are just so quiet these days!" It wasn't fair! Ryou was so much taller and heavier than he was, shouldn't he at least make a sound when he walked?

Ryou's lips moved upward. It wasn't much of a smile, but then he'd never really made very big ones to start with. "It's a habit, that's all."

Shou grumped a little at that. "The letters are on their way."

"I know. I came up for something else. Someone from the village wishes to speak with one of us." Was that worry in his voice? What did Ryou worry about?

"What do they want?" He hoped that would give him a clue about whatever troubled his brother. Sure, they most likely had a vampire running around somewhere in the mansion, but was it that big of a problem to make Ryou genuinely _worry_? When he'd already dealt with one of that type?

Ryou's shoulders moved in a small shrug. "I don't know. They would give no messages to the servant, only that they wish to speak to me or you. Would you? I'm still checking for signs of that vampire that's been feeding on the servants."

That made sense. Shou nodded. "I'll take care of it." He set off right away. The sooner this was dealt with the better.

* * *

He found the messenger right where he expected them to be: in one of the side rooms, guided there by one of the increasingly more nervous servants. Squaring his shoulders and reminding himself that he was a Marufuji and thus held a responsibility here, he stepped into the room.

Then he ducked quickly as the messenger leaped up and struck toward him. "What's going on!?" Shou shouted, scrambling off to the side.

The messenger stopped in her tracks, staring at him. "Oh. I'm sorry, sir." She bent her head respectfully. "I've been a little edgy after what happened."

Shou nodded and moved a bit farther into the room, making certain there was room enough between her and him that he could get to the door if she decided to try anything else. He learned from his mistakes, or at least tried to. "Is what happened what brought you here today?"

"Yes," she nodded. Shou took a longer look at her. She was about Ryou's height, with a long spill of snow-white hair, and wore tight-fitting leather. A whip hung coiled from a notch on her belt, with a dagger on the other side. Wrapped around her left arm was a ribbon etched with the symbols of mourning.

"What is it?" he prodded, eyes flicking to that ribbon. He wondered if that had anything to do with why she was here today.

"You can call me Chaos Hunter. Most people do." She rested her gloved hands on top of a chair, staring at the table instead of at him. "My people do not give their given names out lightly. The only person who knew mine is no more."

That accounted for the mourning ribbon, then. Shou nodded and gestured for her to go on.

"Two nights ago, I was waiting for him at my home. But he never made it. I felt something was wrong and went out to look. What I found was a monster bent over him, sucking his blood." Her words fell like small chunks of broken glass, ringing harsh and cold. "A vampire."

Shou froze where he stood. "A vampire?" It had to be the one that lurking in the mansion and taking bites out of the staff. What were the odds of having two this close together? Unless they were a team. It probably could happen. One vampire or two, this wasn't good news at all.

"I know what I saw." Her eyes darkened in memory. "I couldn't see its face. There wasn't enough light. But I could tell what it was doing. I did manage to hit it, but I'm not sure of how much damage I caused. It got away before I could do anything else. It was too late for Taro. I don't think he even recognized me after that."

Shou bent his head in sympathy. That explained the ribbon, and her strike at him, more than he'd wanted to know. "Did you find anything else?"

"No. Vampires seldom leave much evidence behind them, other than their victims." Her fingers tightened more against the chair, digging into the wood. "I came up here as soon as I could after Taro was laid to rest. I'm going to search for the monster on my own, but I thought that you should know that it's in the area."

"Thank you," Shou told her. He decided in a moment that it would be better not to let on that there was a vampire in the mansion as well. Whether or not it was the same one, it could cause too much of a panic if people caught wind that even their home could be invaded by the undead. And they still didn't know much about the vampire itself. Shou was almost certain Ryou would want to capture it before they made any major plans on how to deal with it. "Let us know if you learn anything new, please? And we'll watch for it ourselves."

Chaos Hunter nodded, bringing her gaze up to look toward Shou for the first time. Her lips parted again, but nothing came from them, mostly because another voice spoke.

"We extend our sympathy for your loss, and if we can provide any assistance, let us know." Ryou stood in the shadows of the doorway. Shou didn't know if their visitor could recognize him or not from that. Something certainly bothered her, given the paling of her cheeks.

"Of course." She dropped her head for a moment before backing toward the door. "I should go."

She didn't wait for any kind of formal dismissal, leaving as quickly as she could without actually running out the door. Shou looked up at his brother.

"What do you think bothered her?" She'd seemed fine right up until Ryou arrived. His brother shrugged.

"People who have dealt with vampires can be strange for a long time afterward. I wouldn't be bothered by it if I were you."

Shou nodded; his brother always knew best after all.

 **To Be Continued**


	9. Starting Stalking

**Disclaimer:** I own nothing involved in this story unless I invented it myself. This is written for fun, not for profit. All forms of feedback eagerly accepted. Concrit is loved the most, but everything is welcome.  
 **Fandom:** Yu-Gi-Oh GX  
 **Title:** Of the Darkness: Chapter 9: Starting Stalking  
 **Family:** Ryou  & Shou  
 **Other Characters:** Camula  
 **Word Count:** chapter: 1,153|| **story:** 10,369  
 **Genre:** Family, Supernatural|| **Rated:** PG-13  
 **Challenge:** Written for the Diversity Writing Challenge, section J, #006, multi-chapter with 15-25 chapters; Written for the One Sibling Boot Camp, prompt #50, shade  
 **Notes:** It's an AU. It involves vampires.  
 **Summary:** Shou invites his brother in after Ryou returns from a long trip away. That is his first mistake. It only gets worse from there.

* * *

 _You're a hunter. You kill things like that. You've done it before._ She kept the litany going in her mind even as she worked her way out of the mansion, every nerve tense and every sense perked for the slightest hint that either of them were on her trail.

She'd never visited the Marufuji mansion before, but she knew all the ways that nobles were meant to protect the peasantry and merchants. That included getting rid of monsters such as vampires that refused to be reasoned with.

It did _not_ include _being_ those monsters.

If it had been anyone else and anywhere else, she would've simply disposed of the creature right then and there. But to attack the head of the Marufuji family in his own home, with nothing but her own instincts telling her that he was the monster that slaughtered her lover? No, that would end up with her dead as well. And if she was wrong – even though she didn't think she was – then the true vampire would be free to stalk and slaughter anyone they chose to.

Chaos Hunter breathed in fresh air as soon as she stumbled her way out of the mansion's environs, waving off the curious looks of servants and the occasional outreached hand for help. There was no help here for her, even if they meant it in all honesty. She was a hunter of monsters. This was a home for monsters.

The tall one, the elder – Marufuji Ryou – he bore the signs of the undead: skin far too pale for one who fought in the light as all the tales of him said he did, the slightest peeking of fangs over his lips, perhaps by accident, perhaps in an attempt to intimidate her, the way that he moved without a single breath of sound. To her it rang clearly, especially given her encounter that night. She hadn't seen the creature then, but she recognized that it wore garments very similar to what the young nobleman wore now.

Not quite enough to take to those higher in rank as evidence, but enough to set her fears aflame.

The small one, the younger – Marufuji Shou – he did _not_ bear any of the marks. What worried her was the way that he gazed at his brother, as if the older sibling held all the secrets of the universe and would give them for a piddling price. She'd heard that Shou hero worshiped his elder brother, but this was something more. Something that made her recall what she'd heard of vampires and their skill at putting people in trances, so that their slaves thought only what they wanted them to think.

She needed to get back and check her information. She _thought_ if one killed the vampire in question, then all those enslaved by its power would then be released. But if she were wrong, then she would have to guard against both brothers when she returned to hunt.

There wasn't any doubt in her mind that she would. She only needed to be properly armed and certain of her target first.

Getting armed wasn't difficult at all. But to be certain of the target? That would require a little more effort.

Luckily, it was effort she was more than prepared to put in.

* * *

With the letters now sent off, all Shou had to wait for was their friends' arrival. That would take at least a few days, given the length of time it would take for the letters to arrive there and everyone deciding whether or not they could come at all. They'd learn something eventually.

So with that being all he had to wait for, Shou decided to put in a little time searching for any evidence of the vampire in the mansion. The first thing he thought of was letting his brother know. No one with any sense would go looking for one alone.

"Should I bring a stake with me?" Shou asked, twiddling with the bottom of his jacket. "They're supposed to be hurt by stakes, right?"

"Stakes, blessed water, fire," Ryou recited it as if he'd memorized it. "Some tales speak of garlic being a way to ward them off, among other things."

Shou frowned. He didn't like the smell of garlic that much. He didn't think they even had any in the mansion. "Can we do it without that?"

"Of course. A torch might be easier, though." Ryou shrugged his shoulders and rose from where he'd sat before his window. "Hitting a vampire in a vital spot with a stake isn't something anyone can do very easily."

He didn't say 'especially you', but Shou knew he meant it anyway. He hadn't received the benefit of the height that ran through their family on their mother's side. As much as the idea annoyed him, he also knew it was true. Unless the vampire happened to be on the short side like he was, the odds of him being able to hit a vampire where it counted were somewhat slim.

But a torch? That he could do.

"Would you come with me, big brother?" Shou asked. "You know more about them than I do."

Ryou shook his head. "I have some other matters I need to take care of. But I trust you can handle yourself."

Shou puffed his chest up and grinned in pride. "Of course I can!" He had a weapon that would do well against what he was looking for and the vampire didn't even know that he was coming. Not to mention that it was broad daylight outside. The vampire would probably be asleep.

He paused for a second on his way out. "Vampires do sleep in the day, don't they?"

Ryou smiled a thin little smile. "I believe they do."

"All right!" Shou whirled at once and headed for his room where he knew he could get a torch lit from the fire burning there. "I'll tell you how it went at dinner."

Even though Ryou didn't eat that much when meal hours came, he always turned up at the table, sipping on a cup of tea if nothing else. Shou knew he did eat, since he clearly wasn't wasting away, but he couldn't remember having seen him eat since he'd returned from the trip.

The thought slipped away like snow under summer sun as Shou began his trip down to the darkest parts of the mansion's basements. Catching a vampire would always be more interesting than worrying over Ryou's eating habits anyway.

* * *

 _I won't kill him!_ Ryou insisted, even as he crawled along outside of the castle battlements. Clouds scurried up from the west; soon, even though it wasn't yet nightfall, it would be too dark to see one's hand in front of one's face. The storm wouldn't last long, but it would be long enough.

 **You will do as I tell you to do, beloved. Now, go.**

 **To Be Continued**


	10. Scary Shadows

**Disclaimer:** I own nothing involved in this story unless I invented it myself. This is written for fun, not for profit. All forms of feedback eagerly accepted. Concrit is loved the most, but everything is welcome.  
 **Fandom:** Yu-Gi-Oh GX  
 **Title:** Of the Darkness: Chapter 10: Scary Shadows  
 **Family:** Ryou  & Shou  
 **Other Characters:** Camula  
 **Word Count:** chapter: 1,138|| **story:** 11,507  
 **Genre:** Family, Supernatural|| **Rated:** PG-13  
 **Challenge:** Written for the Diversity Writing Challenge, section J, #006, multi-chapter with 15-25 chapters; Written for the One Sibling Boot Camp, prompt #50, shade  
 **Notes:** It's an AU. It involves vampires.  
 **Summary:** Shou invites his brother in after Ryou returns from a long trip away. That is his first mistake. It only gets worse from there.

* * *

Shou's decision on where to search for the vampire came very simply. Vampires needed to stay in the dark. Only one place in the mansion came close to being dark on a regular basis. So, with the sun still riding high in the sky, he made his way down to the storage areas deep under the mansion. He held a flaming torch in one hand and a lantern in the other.

A tiny part of him wondered exactly how ridiculous he looked like this and if he should wait for Kenzan and the others to show up.

 _I'd like to, but I can't,_ he mused as he moved along. _It's going to take them days to get here and who knows how many people the vampire could attack by then._ It could even try to attack Ryou, and Shou wouldn't stand for that.

All right, Ryou had more experience than he did fighting off evil monsters, but Shou still wasn't going to let it try anything. For that matter, it might try to attack _him_ , and he _really_ wasn't going to let that happen.

So, taking every step with caution and keeping his attention turned toward dark corners, he proceeded on his search. He hoped he was right about the vampire being down here in the first place. If it had chosen some other place to nest, then he would be wasting his time.

He'd heard stories about vampires and other monsters before and how their lairs could have huge piles of treasure from centuries of hoarding. This monster hadn't been here long at all, so there wouldn't be anything like that there.

 _Not unless it brought some with it._ Shou tried hard not to laugh at the thought and managed to stifle most of the giggles it brought up. He reminded himself that he was on a serious mission to protect everyone in the mansion and he should pay attention to what was going on around him instead of giggling at idiotic thoughts. The scolding didn't work nearly as well as he hoped it would.

Ahead of him, something rattled, a pebble racketing across the stone floor. All thoughts of humor vanished out of Shou's mind and he brought himself to attention, staring ahead. Lamp and torch caused shadows to flicker and bounce even as he froze where he was, slowly looking around for any signs of where the pebble had come from.

He saw nothing at all, only those shadows cast by the light he brought with them.

Shou cleared his throat and raised his shoulders higher. In the deep depths of his mind, he recalled that he hunted a creature that could be so much stronger than him, that could have decades or centuries of hunting prey behind it, and all he had was a single torch to defend himself.

 _Should I really be doing this?_

Regardless, he was here, and it needed to be done. Bringing a pack of servants or anyone else would've only given the creature time to hide and strike again another day. There was the _slim_ chance that it could be reasoned with, but he honestly didn't know. Better to be safe than sorry.

From the deepest darkness there spoke a voice, one that he didn't know if he heard with his ears or with his mind. The same part of him that reminded him that he'd come down here with nothing but a simple torch to defend himself said he knew this voice. Most of the rest of him ignored that. He didn't know any vampires.

"What do you down here?"

Shou swallowed. No one but him should be here in the first place, so if he heard a voice, then it had to be the vampire. "Are you a vampire?"

"That doesn't answer my question. Why are you here?"

"It does answer it. Because if you're a vampire, then that's why I'm here." Shou tried to move forward, wanting to bring a little light to the area, but not a single muscle of his body wanted to move. He could've been a statue for all that he could do anything.

"And what are you doing here if I'm not one?" It sounded almost as if whoever it was wanted to laugh at him. It wasn't a pleasant laugh if they did.

"You still shouldn't be here." Shou wrenched the words out of himself. "But who are you and why are you here?"

There wasn't a reply for a few moments. Shou thought the other had vanished when they spoke again. "I live here. This has been my home and my family's home for generations. I have as much right here as you do."

Shou would've shaken his head if he could. "No, you don't. There haven't been any vampires here _ever_."

"You would be wrong about that." Something flickered in the depths of the shadows. Shou tried to get a better look at it but to no avail. He didn't know if that was because he couldn't move at all or because there wasn't anything there to see properly. "What is it that you want with me?"

Even knowing that he couldn't move didn't stop Shou from trying to raise his head up in pride and determination. "I want you to stop attacking people!"

"I can't do that." The voice even sounded a little regretful. "It isn't -" The words choked off without warning, then picked up again. "It isn't possible."

"Why not?" Shou wondered if his ears were deceiving him. Did the monster sound upset about it? That – that couldn't be right? Could it?

Again silence reigned for a few worrisome seconds. "It is what I am. A vampire kills people. I have no more control over that than you do of killing for _your_ food." A pause far too brief for Shou to fill. "And don't try to tell me that you don't. Whatever you eat, you kill, be it meat or plants."

 _But these are people!_ Shou wanted to say. _That makes a difference!_ The words froze in his throat even as another movement registered. Something from the shadows, something in a shape that was written in the deepest parts of his mind as _safe_ , as _would never hurt me_ , as _always there to help me_ , moved forward to where he could see it better.

Shou could see the face. He did not want to. Even if his head couldn't move, his entire body was a single screaming word of _no_. This couldn't be allowed. This wasn't right at all. It had to be a trick.

And the thing that wore his brother's face came closer, every movement as silent as Ryou's had become since his return, and cold fingers, the chill of death, brushed the side of Shou's face, and Shou knew nothing else.

 **To Be Continued**


	11. Shaky Steps

**Disclaimer:** I own nothing involved in this story unless I invented it myself. This is written for fun, not for profit. All forms of feedback eagerly accepted. Concrit is loved the most, but everything is welcome.  
 **Fandom:** Yu-Gi-Oh GX  
 **Title:** Of the Darkness: Chapter 11: Shaky Steps  
 **Family:** Ryou  & Shou  
 **Other Characters:** Camula  
 **Word Count:** chapter: 1,110|| **story:** 12,617  
 **Genre:** Family, Supernatural|| **Rated:** PG-13  
 **Challenge:** Written for the Diversity Writing Challenge, section J, #006, multi-chapter with 15-25 chapters; Written for the One Sibling Boot Camp, prompt #50, shade  
 **Notes:** It's an AU. It involves vampires.  
 **Summary:** Shou invites his brother in after Ryou returns from a long trip away. That is his first mistake. It only gets worse from there.

* * *

Shou had no idea of how long he lay where he was and stared at the ceiling above him before he realized it was a ceiling at all, much less that he was looking at it. He'd passed from asleep to awake with only the barest awareness that such a change happened at all.

"Shou?" Confusion curled within him at the sound of that voice. He shouldn't be hearing it, should he? He wasn't certain. He couldn't think all that well right now. Nothing seemed to fit into its proper place. "Shou, are you awake?"

His fingers twitched a fraction. Yes, he was awake. He knew that much. He wasn't very together, but he wasn't asleep. He didn't think he was, anyway.

Fingers brushed alongside his wrist and a shadow of some kind moved nearer. Shou tried to flinch, vague memories of such a darkness being far too near, but he couldn't get his body to do what he wanted it to do.

"Shou, I'm sorry. I didn't want to hurt you." That voice. He _knew_ that voice and he wanted to remember who it was. He thought he made a noise, or thought that he tried to. But he couldn't hear himself at all. "But you're going to be all right. You won't be like me."

Like… whoever? Shou still couldn't put the pieces together. He tried, but they didn't seem to all be there. There was one huge one right in the middle missing, he thought. He'd never been good at jigsaw puzzles anyway.

No matter how much he wanted to know what was going on, without being able to put those shards of memory together, Shou remained baffled by the whole situation. He had no idea of how long he lay there, occasionally hearing that odd and familiar voice speak to him. Sometimes he thought he could answer but he never heard anything come from his throat at all.

Other times, when the presence wasn't there, he thought a different one was, one that he didn't like half as much as he did the first one, the one that mourned whatever had been done to him. This one did not speak. But if he could've spoken, he would've said that he felt watched all the same. Watched by unfriendly eyes that wished for nothing more than him to be gone forever.

But no matter how hard they wished, if that was truth and not the results of whatever put him where he was, Shou slowly began to heal. He realized somewhere along the line that his neck hurt, and that was part of why he couldn't speak. He didn't think that was all of it, but he'd never received any training in how to heal someone, much less himself. So all he could do was wait for the pain to subside and his voice to work again.

The shadow person seldom left his side, even as he mended moment by moment. They didn't always speak, but Shou knew they were there anyway. He liked it when they were there; he rested much more comfortably than when that other presence hovered.

Time wasn't a thing that existed for him now. He knew it passed. He knew it had been… a while? He thought? Since he'd first opened his eyes in this bed, and much longer since whatever had happened happened in the first place.

No one else came to him but the two presences. The one that he liked brought him food, thin soups that thickened into hot stews as he recovered, and then ordinary meals. There was an extra flavor that he didn't remember having noticed in his food before. Though he wasn't certain if that was any indication of anything, because the majority of his memories before realizing he lay in a bed remained fuzzy and incoherent anyway.

He knew his name. He knew of the watching presences. He knew very little else, and as time slipped away without being able to ask about what he didn't know, Shou stopped really wanting to ask at all. It didn't seem as if it would make a huge difference in his life.

But something did change, eventually. After having a good meal, he stared down at himself, thinking more coherently than he had in some time. His hands rested on the dark blue blanket pulled up to his waist and he turned them over, somewhat amazed that he could do such a thing. They were slender and pale, more so than he thought they should be. His gaze traveled up to his arms and he thought, after some time of staring, that he'd lost weight.

Not really considering the matter too much, Shou decided that he'd had enough of being in bed. He'd only left it a few times since he'd begun to stir once more, mostly to the nearby alcove to tend to personal needs and to bath. He wore only smallclothes at the moment, but saw no real need to put on anything else. He was in his home, all of his instincts told him, and if one couldn't wander around there without dressing formally, where could one?

Slowly he worked his way to his feet, wrapping one hand around one of the bedcurtains to keep himself steady. His heart beat a little faster as his head spun and he almost considered sitting down once again. Then everything cleared and he thought he could move on again. He took one step and then another. It wasn't easy. He'd never thought walking could be so difficult. He didn't remember it being so before.

Far too soon he wasn't in range of the bed and the curtains anymore. A comfortable chair nestled a short distance away. He wondered if one of his visitors used that and decided it would be his target. He didn't want to go very far. Just enough so he could see the outside, he decided. A window would do. He didn't remember where one was, but one had to be there somewhere.

But first the chair. He stepped with all caution, tense and nervous. The longer he stood, the more he thought he felt other eyes on him, the eyes of the one that he didn't like.

He ignored them. He wanted that chair and he wanted a window. He stumbled forward, managing to keep himself from falling until the last second, when he pitched forward into the chair, breathing hard, eyes wide and amazed at himself.

 **So you're not dead after all. What a pity.**

Shou's head snapped up and he looked around, trying to find where that voice came from. "Who's there?"

 **To Be Continued**


	12. Speaking Shadows

**Disclaimer:** I own nothing involved in this story unless I invented it myself. This is written for fun, not for profit. All forms of feedback eagerly accepted. Concrit is loved the most, but everything is welcome.  
 **Fandom:** Yu-Gi-Oh GX  
 **Title:** Of the Darkness: Chapter 12: Speaking Shadows  
 **Family:** Ryou  & Shou  
 **Other Characters:** Camula  
 **Word Count:** chapter: 1,031|| **story:** 13,648  
 **Genre:** Family, Supernatural|| **Rated:** PG-13  
 **Challenge:** Written for the Diversity Writing Challenge, section J, #006, multi-chapter with 15-25 chapters; Written for the One Sibling Boot Camp, prompt #50, shade  
 **Notes:** It's an AU. It involves vampires.  
 **Summary:** Shou invites his brother in after Ryou returns from a long trip away. That is his first mistake. It only gets worse from there.

* * *

From the shadows surrounding him came a deeply amused laugh. No matter how Shou twisted and turned, he couldn't find where it came from, much less _who_ it came from. He twisted himself around in the chair, trying to at least get comfortable while he figured out what was going on, still staring into the shadows.

 **He might have been right about how strong you are,** the voice mused, and Shou could not help but associate it with the feeling he'd had whenever that awareness he'd never liked stared at him. **Though you're not nearly as strong as you should be, being his brother.**

Shou's head snapped up and he glared in the direction he thought the voice came from. "What are you talking about?" His memories hadn't fully filled themselves in yet, but he knew that he had a brother and that his brother cared deeply for him, and vice versa.

 **You still don't remember, of course. I am not surprised. He very nearly sated his thirst with you. As he** ** _should have_** **.** The words sliced through the air, though Shou also could not have said if he heard them with his ears or his mind. They seemed a strange mixture of both.

"Make some sense!" he demanded. "Who are you and what do you know about my brother?"

 **I know that he belongs to me, and that you belong to him now.** Again there was laughter, and it wasn't any more truly amused or happy than any other time had been.

"I am not anyone's property!" He knew that quite well, regardless of what else he didn't now. "What makes you say that?"

Ghostly fingers touched the side of his neck. Shou jerked around, staring, still hoping to get some glimpse of whoever this was. He thought he saw a fleeting shape, an image that could possibly be that of a woman, but nothing more, and the shadow, if that was even what it was, faded away the moment he noticed it.

 **Because it's true. He did not change you, but he has tasted your blood and you have tasted his. You will do as he says.** Again a smooth, amused chuckle. **Not that you ever did otherwise. But now you have no more choice in the matter.**

Shou shook his head, ignoring the pain that surged in his neck when he did so. "You're still not making any sense!"

 **Only because you no longer remember what you saw or what has been going on. But if you did, you would know exactly what you are now: his slave. You will serve him without question, protecting him to the best of your ability.**

Shou wanted to protest even more, but the words refused to pass his lips. The idea of not helping his brother in any way that he could just wasn't one that he could actually think. That didn't have anything to do with being a slave, no matter what this strange woman insisted. It was just what was _right_ in the first place.

 **Of course you think that. You always would. Such a good little slave you are. Almost as good as he is to me. The slave of a slave? I doubt that's happened very often. It wasn't meant to happen now.**

He thought she sounded annoyed by that. Shou still couldn't move around a great deal; working his way to the chair took more of his energy than he'd thought it would. Now that he was there, he saw something else that he didn't like. Or to be precise, he didn't see something and the fact he didn't see it he didn't like.

He'd wanted a window to look out on the world through. There weren't any windows in reach of the chair. He'd thought there were, but either his memory – such as it was right now – proved faulty or he'd seen things in the first place. He had no idea of which it was.

 **I have never tried to command a slave of my slave,** the voice mused onwards, as if speaking to herself more than to Shou. **I wonder if I can.** Stronger than ever, that presence turned attention toward him and Shou knew without a doubt that she _was_ that presence. **Oh, yes. I watched you as he does. I can see whatever he sees, hear what he hears. He is my puppet, my sweet little doll.**

Shou threw his head back and forth even harder. "Leave my brother alone!" The harder he fought, the more he could feel memories trickling in, starting with days of long ago, when he and Ryou had been children.

 **No, child. My little pet belongs to me, and since you belong to him, that means you're mine as well. I look forward to seeing what I will have to do in order to make you understand both of those facts. It shouldn't take too long.**

Shou tried to get to his feet, but his legs refused to work properly, doing little more than shuffle against the flagstones. He tried harder, hoping this wasn't something that she was doing to him to keep him where he was. If it was because of his weak he was, then he could get over that, he could get stronger again, but if she were causing it?

"Shou?" His brother's voice. Shou looked around eagerly before he recalled that the other presence, her presence was still there. He started to shake his head.

"Ryou -" And a sensation as of a long-fingered, cold hand pressed itself against his throat.

 **No, little slave. I think it's time that you both acknowledged who your queen is. You'll say nothing at all.** While Shou could only feel the hand and not see it, that feeling was as strong as if flesh itself touched him.

Ryou's footsteps hadn't changed, as silent and absent as the grave. One moment he wasn't there and the next he was, looking first at the bed, then turning until he saw Shou seated in the chair.

"Shou, what are -" His own words cut off, his eyes widening with a shock of fear that Shou found far too familiar. "Camula..."

 **To Be Continued**


	13. Controlling Camula

**Disclaimer:** I own nothing involved in this story unless I invented it myself. This is written for fun, not for profit. All forms of feedback eagerly accepted. Concrit is loved the most, but everything is welcome.  
 **Fandom:** Yu-Gi-Oh GX  
 **Title:** Of the Darkness: Chapter 13: Controlling Camula  
 **Family:** Ryou  & Shou  
 **Other Characters:** Camula  
 **Word Count:** chapter: 1,058|| **story:** 14,706  
 **Genre:** Family, Supernatural|| **Rated:** PG-13  
 **Challenge:** Written for the Diversity Writing Challenge, section J, #006, multi-chapter with 15-25 chapters; Written for the One Sibling Boot Camp, prompt #50, shade  
 **Notes:** It's an AU. It involves vampires.  
 **Summary:** Shou invites his brother in after Ryou returns from a long trip away. That is his first mistake. It only gets worse from there.

* * *

In between one moment and the next, she appeared, no longer a shadow, not merely a voice, but there, in all of her stark and undead reality. She stood tall and slender, a cascade of dark green hair billowing about her chalk-white shoulders, a gown of blood-red clinging to her body like a second skin. She smiled, lips curved high and wide enough to show her deadly dagger-sharp fangs, and Ryou fought not to step back, not to retreat in the face of the enemy that had brought him low and leashed him in a way he had never imagined he could be.

If Shou thought Ryou walked in silence, his brother was a lumbering boar next to Camula, who even in high heels moved like nothing more than a puff of fog. She rested long, cold fingers against the side of Ryou's face.

"My darling," she murmured, staring into his eyes, and he could feel his will weakening, draining away as it had once before, when he'd fought until he had no strength left, and she'd easily brought him to the ground. "I forgive you for disobeying my orders. He could be a useful tool after all."

Ryou tried his best to shake his head, but all for nothing. She did not want him to move and his body could not disobey her. She leaned forward and pressed her cold lips onto his forehead. Part of him thrilled to her praise and her touch. More of him, the part that he still claimed for himself, ached for the presence of a stake or burning fire, anything that would put an end to her.

Her fingers brushed upward from his cheek and through his hair, petting him as one might a faithful dog. That was what he was to her, he knew, nothing but a pet that would obey her commands. She could call him whatever he pleased but he knew what she thought. She didn't really try to hide it anyway.

Her scarlet eyes moved from one of them to the other before she nodded in satisfaction. "Your friends will be here soon, my children. I think before then, we need to make some arrangements." That wide, evil smile returned. "I've come a very long way and I need refreshments. Send for someone to eat, my dear." She patted the side of Ryou's cheek. "In fact, make it two. You've put so much effort into watching your brother. You need to recover as well."

He wanted to disobey. Words could not say how much he wanted to. But instead, he moved toward the door of Shou's room, where no servant had set foot in the long days of his brother's recovery. The servants knew only that the young master was sick and that Ryou had chosen to stay by his side to watch over him. They were loyal. They were obedient. They would not disobey and enter without his permission.

He'd wished they had.

He called for a maid, told her that they both needed something to eat, phrasing it in such a way that two would come. And food for Shou would be brought as well; he wasn't a vampire, he still needed mortal food.

Camula whispered other instructions in his ears as they awaited the servants' arrival. Each one slipped firmly into his mind, sealing itself into place.

Shou waited in his chair, eyes flicking back and forth between the two of them, unmoving save for occasional random twitches. Camula did not want him to cause trouble and so Ryou made certain he didn't.

He'd done what he did to Shou to help him, to save his life, not to make him another of Camula's pawns. If there were any way at all to get his brother out of there, Ryou would do it.

"But there isn't," Camula whispered, reading his thoughts as easily as she always had. "You're both mine and that will never, ever change."

"Never say never," Ryou murmured, straining for what defiance he could manage. "Anything can change." True, change wasn't always for the better, but he couldn't imagine how things could get worse.

Camula chuckled, toying with a strand of his hair. "Oh, but I think things could always get worse. Why don't we find out when your friends get here? They are mages, aren't they? And a shapechanger. I wonder what he would taste like."

The thought of Fubuki or Yuusuke falling prey to her sent a surge of fury all through Ryou. Impotent fury; he could no more attack her than he could step into sunlight nowadays.

Camula petted him again, amused by his struggles. "We'll find out, won't we? What are the others? Do tell me."

She already knew. He knew that she knew; he'd told her everything that he could imagine before he'd even returned to the castle. But she wanted to hear it again, just for the sake of hearing him hurt to say it.

"Yuusuke is a shadow mage." Ryou bit off the words, trying and failing to conceal his hope that Yuusuke, with all of his experience with creatures of the shadows, would know what had happened to him and how to deal with it. "Fubuki is a bard." A trained and skilled one, who'd spent much of his life traveling around the world, sometimes with his sister Asuka – whose warrior exploits made for fantastic tales in Fubuki's opinion – and sometimes by himself.

"Ah, yes. Such wonderful friends you have. Perhaps they'll even be able to help you." Camula's voice rang with dark, twisted amusement. "And perhaps they will become _my_ friends as well. I think that would be better, don't you? Imagine having a flock of our own, beloved. A flock consisting of those closest to you. Those who were your friends, your servants, your commoners, your brother… all kneeling before you. And you kneel before me."

Ryou had no time to answer that at all, as there came a knock on the door, and two of the servants stepped inside, one carrying a tray full of food cooked to Shou's tastes. The other one looked toward him, and if she saw Camula at all, she made no sign of it.

"M'lord," said the maid, bobbing quickly in place. "Your guests have arrived and are waiting for you in the great hall."

 **To Be Continued**


	14. Greeting Guests

**Disclaimer:** I own nothing involved in this story unless I invented it myself. This is written for fun, not for profit. All forms of feedback eagerly accepted. Concrit is loved the most, but everything is welcome.  
 **Fandom:** Yu-Gi-Oh GX  
 **Title:** Of the Darkness: Chapter 14: Greeting Guests  
 **Family:** Ryou  & Shou  
 **Other Characters:** Camula  
 **Word Count:** chapter: 1,068|| **story:** 15,774  
 **Genre:** Family, Supernatural|| **Rated:** PG-13  
 **Challenge:** Written for the Diversity Writing Challenge, section J, #006, multi-chapter with 15-25 chapters; Written for the One Sibling Boot Camp, prompt #50, shade  
 **Notes:** It's an AU. It involves vampires.  
 **Summary:** Shou invites his brother in after Ryou returns from a long trip away. That is his first mistake. It only gets worse from there.

* * *

Ryou stood just outside the Great Hall, Camula's orders still ringing in his ears, unchangeable and inescapable.

 _Put them at ease. The shadow mage will be difficult to deal with; his kind always are, but do not hint that I am here. If any of them are aware of a vampire, deflect the interest to the best of your ability. Do not put yourself in danger._

Unspoken, unnecessary, was that if he stepped out of line in any way that he could – and those ways were few indeed – then Shou would suffer for it. She still stood by his side, smug in her acqusition of them both, to use against one another.

Putting all thoughts of hope and deception out of his mind, he entered the hall. His first reaction was that there weren't three people there, but four, and he at once tasted the air to see what he could find out.

Three he recognized right away: Fubuki, Yuusuke, and Kenzan. The faint odor of the oils Fubuki used to keep his instruments in good condition was one he'd known since childhood. Yuusuke tasted of smoke and the magic he breathed as he breathed air. Kenzan, as always, held the scent of the great lizard he was when he did not look like a human.

Fourth was another mage, one that spoke of crackling thunder and bright lightning. It wasn't one that he knew, and that meant something to watch out for.

Almost as soon as he entered the room, Kenzan turned, his tongue darting out, then looking at the others. "Marufuji-san!" He declared, bright and cheerful, before a frown twisted his features. "Where's little Marufuji?"

"Shou's not feeling well, unfortunately," Ryou replied with a hint of weariness, as one would normally have after tending to a sick family member for days. "He fell ill shortly after we sent our letters to you and there was no time to let you know."

Frequently mages could scent lies. It depended on their specialty and if they wished to do so. Without knowing more about this strange wizard, Ryou decided to choose his words with the utmost of care, more than he would have for his friends, who knew his every speech pattern by heart.

"What's the matter with him?" Kenzan wanted to know, taking a step forward, worrying flickering in his eyes as they shifted from slitted lizard to human round.

Ryou shook his head. "It's complicated to explain, but he's already on the mend, and should be strong enough to join you for dinner." He'd already had his, after all, and the strength of the blood sang through him.

His eyes dropped to the rest of the group there. Fubuki barely waited another moment but bounced over to give him an enthusiastic hug around the shoulders. "Man, it has been so long since we've seen each other! I feel like I should be about a foot shorter and still not know how half the songs I do!"

"No matter what size you are, you're always going to be trouble," Ryou replied, a small hint of a smile turning up one corner of his mouth. He could almost forget the problems they had with Fubuki there. Almost.

When he turned toward Yuusuke, his eyes met pale lavender ones that narrowed thoughtfully the moment they met. Yuusuke examined him in a single heartbeat, but only gave a polite nod. Ryou could feel a certain wariness that didn't come from Yuusuke at all. He knew who it _did_ come from, however, and he kept silent on that fact. He'd managed not to speak of this to Camula and he would keep not speaking of it to her for as long as he could.

Now he looked at the fourth, the stranger, who wore head to toe black along with a slightly annoyed look. "And this is?"

Fubuki appeared next to the newcomer, wrapping one arm comfortably around him. "Marufuji Ryou, lord of these lands, I present to you Manjoume Jun, Thunder mage extraordinaire, _and_ former suitor to my sister." His brown eyes twinkled with mischief. "Only I persuaded him that he'd be better off with me, and I've been convincing him of that regularly ever since."

What came out of Manjoume Jun's mouth after that wasn't very coherent, but Fubuki didn't seem to care. Ryou thought for a moment or two.

"Manjoume….I've heard of your family, I believe. Very wealthy, very tied into kingdom politics."

The young man turned up his nose. "I try not to talk about them very much. My brothers and I don't see eye to eye on a lot."

"They have no idea of what they're missing out on," Fubuki added before he threw in a shrug. "But, let's not talk about boring people like them."

Ryou nodded; this Manjoume Jun didn't seem as if he'd be much of a problem, aside from someone else for Camula to sink her fangs into. Thunder Mages tended to be a bit on the spicy side, though. He didn't know if she'd be interested.

"It's getting late," Yuusuke said, his voice as quiet and soft as ever. "Perhaps we could get some rest and talk more in the morning?"

"Good idea," Fubuki agreed, the others nodding. "What about dinner, though?"

Ryou had already seen to that. "I think we have something ready that can be served soon. I'll have your luggage dealt with and the table set up. Welcome, all of you."

Servants came, silent and ghost-like, not looking at anyone, but taking the guests' baggage and vanishing out the door as quickly as they could. Ryou's state wasn't commonly known, but the fact a vampire stalked the halls was, and no one wanted to be out more than they needed to be.

"Is something wrong?" Fubuki asked, eyes narrowed a fraction. Ryou shook his head at once.

"They're worried about Shou, that's all." That, too, was true. But more because so many of them suspected what had happened than anything else.

He gestured for them to follow him to the dining hall; he had excuses set in place for why he wouldn't eat with them, but he would have to come up with more soon enough. These were his friends. They would not always accept 'I already ate' when it came to sharing meals.

Especially not Yuusuke. Not when a shadow mage's eyes knew the undead on sight.

 **To Be Continued**

 **Note:** Thank you for reading and I hope that you enjoyed the chapter. Please let me know what you thought of it if at all possible.


	15. Shadow Suspicions

**Disclaimer:** I own nothing involved in this story unless I invented it myself. This is written for fun, not for profit. All forms of feedback eagerly accepted. Concrit is loved the most, but everything is welcome.  
 **Fandom:** Yu-Gi-Oh GX  
 **Title:** Of the Darkness: Chapter 15: Shadow Suspicions  
 **Family:** Ryou  & Shou  
 **Other Characters:** Camula  
 **Word Count:** chapter: 1,063|| **story:** 16,837  
 **Genre:** Family, Supernatural|| **Rated:** PG-13  
 **Challenge:** Written for the Diversity Writing Challenge, section J, #006, multi-chapter with 15-25 chapters; Written for the One Sibling Boot Camp, prompt #50, shade  
 **Notes:** It's an AU. It involves vampires.  
 **Summary:** Shou invites his brother in after Ryou returns from a long trip away. That is his first mistake. It only gets worse from there.

* * *

No sooner had the door closed behind them all did Yuusuke turn toward it and cast the most powerful shielding spell that he knew. It wouldn't hold up for long; this was the Marufuji clan's ancestral home and that blood-tie would overpower his magic if either Shou or Ryou chose to press it.

 _If it lasts just a short while, that should be enough._ He turned at once to Fubuki, Manjoume, and Kenzan, all of whom were staring at him in confusion. Fubuki had known him long enough to know when he was using his magic and Manjoume, as a fellow mage, could tell even without having known him so long. Kenzan wasn't so lucky on those counts, but being he picked up on something being wrong quickly as well.

"What is it?" Fubuki asked quietly, his usual whimsical humor dying down at the look in Yuusuke's eyes.

Yuusuke didn't beat around the bush. "Ryou's a vampire." He'd seldom been more grateful that they both knew him and knew what a shadow mage could do and didn't argue the point.

"Think that's why his brother's not around?" Manjoume wondered, eyes flicking to the darker corners of the room.

Kenzan drew in a long breath, hands clenching, hints of scales appearing and disappearing. "Thought there was something off about his scent. It wasn't right at all. But it's been so long since I've seen him, I wasn't sure."

"He's a vampire," Yuusuke repeated it firmly. "It might have something to do with Shou not meeting us or not. We're going to have to find out." He considered what he knew. It had been a while since he'd studied vampires and he'd never met one personally until now. "Not all vampires are monsters in the evil sense. Some are not too much unlike ordinary humans, who just have certain restrictions on where they can do and what they can eat."

"You think that's what Ryou's like?" Fubuki mused. From the way he said it, he didn't entirely believe it, nor did Yuusuke.

"If he was, he would've told us already about his problem," the shadow mage said. "That would've probably been why he asked us to come here. But he's not said a word and while I don't think he's lying, he's not telling us everything either."

Manjoume drummed his fingers on the side of his arm for a few moments. "So how do we find out what he isn't telling us?"

"I can help with that!" A small squeaky voice declared. Manjoume groaned when a tiny yellow spirit appeared next to him, punching the air with a small fist. "Let me look around, big bro! I can do it, really I can!"

Yuusuke tried not to smile. Not many people had partnered spirits of any kind, but Manjoume was blessed – or cursed if you asked him – with three of them: the Ojama Brothers. Noisy, annoying, always turning up at the worst moment, and so completely loyal to Manjoume they could've given the best trained hound lessons.

"If it'll keep you three quiet and out of my hair, then go ahead. Look around. Try not to get eaten and if you find anything useful, then come back here and let us know." From the roll of the thunder mage's eyes, he did not expect them to come back with anything more impressive than a weather report. If that.

The other two spirits appeared next to their younger brother and the three hurried through the door, cheering and bouncing together. Manjoume sagged down into the nearest chair.

"Why do I have to put up with them?" he muttered. Fubuki settled next to him, one comforting arm around his lover.

"Think on the bright side. Now they won't interrupt when we take our bath."

Yuusuke ignored Fubuki for the moment. Right now it was more important to learn everything that he could about Ryou and what had happened to him and how Shou tied into it. He glanced toward Kenzan, who met his gaze with determination.

"You want me to go see if I can find Shou, don't you?" The shapechanger asked, his voice pitched a bit low. There wasn't any need to disturb Fubuki or Manjoume right now.

"I think I trust you to find him quicker than the Ojamas could. They're easily distracted," Yuusuke said, choosing his words with care. Kenzan would not be like that. Once he got onto a scent, then he stuck to it until he found out what he wanted to know.

"I'll have to wait until after dinner, though," Kenzan said with a slight sigh, his eyes going to the door as if he truly wished he could get out there right now. "Don't think it's a good idea to let anyone know we suspect anything just yet."

"You're right." Yuusuke considered asking his own partnered spirit to look around, but in the home of a vampire, even that of one of his oldest friends, he did not want to be without the angel's protection. Even a shadow mage had his limits, and Yuusuke hadn't learned and done all that he had without being aware of his.

Fubuki nudged Manjoume to his feet. "We're going to get cleaned up and changed," he said. "You two better do the same thing."

Yuusuke nodded; perhaps having dinner would also provide some more information. It wasn't completely unlikely that Shou might turn up after all, and then he could find out if both Marufujis walked in the darkest shadows or not.

It might also give him time to remember more about vampires and those who weren't born to being one. He recalled that much; some vampires were born that way and some weren't. Clearly Ryou and Shou weren't born into it. Which meant someone changed Ryou, and that someone was who they really needed to focus on.

The major problem there was that most of those who changed humans into vampires didn't do it for benevolent reasons. More often than not, in what little drips of information Yuusuke could remember, their goals were slavery or at most to have some kind of home-built family around them. That last wasn't always a bad thing either, but if it were the first?

If it were the first, then this vampire would not be allowed to keep Ryou or Shou. Yuusuke would see to it himself.

 **To Be Continued**

 **Note:** Thank you for reading and I hope that you enjoyed the chapter. Please let me know what you thought of it if at all possible.


	16. Shared Secrets

**Disclaimer:** I own nothing involved in this story unless I invented it myself. This is written for fun, not for profit. All forms of feedback eagerly accepted. Concrit is loved the most, but everything is welcome.  
 **Fandom:** Yu-Gi-Oh GX  
 **Title:** Of the Darkness: Chapter 16: Shared Secrets  
 **Family:** Ryou  & Shou  
 **Other Characters:** Camula  
 **Word Count:** chapter: 1,148|| **story:** 17,985  
 **Genre:** Family, Supernatural|| **Rated:** PG-13  
 **Challenge:** Written for the Diversity Writing Challenge, section J, #006, multi-chapter with 15-25 chapters; Written for the One Sibling Boot Camp, prompt #50, shade  
 **Notes:** It's an AU. It involves vampires.  
 **Summary:** Shou invites his brother in after Ryou returns from a long trip away. That is his first mistake. It only gets worse from there.

* * *

The Ojamas hadn't returned by the time a servant called Fubuki, Yuusuke, Manjoume, and Kenzan to dinner. Like those seen before, this one was quiet and a trifle nervous, quite unlike what Yuusuke recalled seeing on visits here in the past.

He didn't try to waste words cheering them up. He _wanted_ to help things, but until he knew everything he could about what was going on, then he didn't want to make rash promises.

Shou wasn't seated at the table, though Ryou sat in his usual place at the head. An excellent feast stretched out on the table, but with places set only for four. Yuusuke raised one eyebrow.

"Not eating?"

Ryou's shoulders lifted and dropped. "Not hungry." His eyes touched Yuusuke's for a moment, and the shadow mage knew that _he_ knew.

There was no point in trying to pretend as if he didn't, then. He took his place, the usual one at Ryou's right hand, and nodded. "I thought you would. It's not something that you want other people to see, is it?"

He was not surprised to see tension leak out from Ryou. What did surprise him was how much _didn't_. "It isn't a pleasant sight," was all that the Marufuji clan leader said. "Even for people like all of you."

Kenzan waved only briefly at Ryou's passing glance before he started to tear into the portion of beef set in front of him, teeth sharp and ripping. He seldom actually changed in order to eat, but his nature always showed.

Yuusuke politely nibbled on his own food. At least this lack of dancing about could mean they could get answers instead of more questions. "How long ago did it happen?"

"Not that long," Ryou replied at once. "I met the one who changed me while I was on a trip to answer a village's cry for help."

Fubuki leaned forward, eyes bright and curious. "Were they the one the village needed help from or was it something else?"

Was that a moment of hesitation? Yuusuke took mental notes on it all. Perhaps they would end up with a few new questions after all.

"They were the one," Ryou replied, resting his long-fingered hands on the table. "But after she changed me, she hasn't bothered them."

Yuusuke noticed very clearly this time that Ryou drew in a breath – perhaps not necessary for life but for speaking – but then his lips crashed together and he said nothing else on that matter. Yes. There were definitely questions being raised here.

"What happened to her?" Manjoume asked, a little quieter than the others, though that was to be expected. He didn't know the Marufujis like Yuusuke and Fubuki did.

Ryou's answer came after a few extra moments of silence again. "She's around. She wants to teach me how to control myself."

Yuusuke put the pieces together on his own. The vampire lived in the mansion now and kept a tight watch on Ryou. She might even be within sight now, if he knew where to look. Just to see, he cast a glance around the room.

If the vampire _was_ there, then she was better at hiding than he was at seeing. Or she knew where to stand so he couldn't find her with a casual glance. He thought he could find her with some of the spells at his command, but those would require time to cast, and more focus than he could spare for the moment.

"Is your condition why Shou's not here?" Yuusuke asked instead, wanting to get what answers he could. Kenzan perked up at the question, eying his friend's older brother with a little more caution than before.

"Not directly. Shou went exploring and ran into some trouble. I had to help him out of it, and that had aftereffects I wasn't expecting." Ryou's fingers tightened on the table and Yuusuke suspected they weren't getting a full answer there. "He's almost recovered, though."

That rang a little closer to the truth. Yuusuke nodded, applying himself more to the dinner, trying to think of anything else that he could ask that would help them. He didn't want to let on just yet that they intended to find a way to cut the bonds that bound Ryou and the one who'd turned him. He'd only made that decision just now himself, but he knew the others would go along with it. What Ryou said, or didn't say, made it plain that he hadn't been turned willingly.

Dozens of other questions ran through his mind. Asking them would be a careful process, since he could only guess what the higher vampire would or wouldn't allow Ryou to speak of.

"Who else knows?" That would give a clue on who they could count on for allies or enemies.

"Not many," Ryou admitted. "The servants suspect, but that's it. And there is at least one person in the village below who could cause some trouble, but she hasn't come back up here in a few days."

That was someone they should probably check in with. 'Causing trouble' could have so many other meanings.

Kenzan had gnawed his meat down to the bone and considered the bone itself as if he wanted to crack it and suck out the marrow. Then he looked up toward Ryou, head tilted to the side. "What's it like to suck blood? I mean, I've had some rare meat before, but never just blood. What's it like?"

Yuusuke could not find himself surprised at all that the shape-changer was the one who asked that. He admitted to a little curiosity himself; as a shadow mage he was closer to the darkness than many others, but blood wasn't something he _drank_. Especially not the way that a vampire would.

Ryou's lips quirked upward in one of those smiles of his that Yuusuke felt he never used often enough. "It's difficult to describe. It's something I don't have a choice on, but it's not repulsive." He tilted his head back, thinking. "But you don't have to worry. I'm well-fed right now, and I don't think a shape-changer's blood appeals to me."

Kenzan glowered and grumbled at that. "What? Not good enough for you?"

That smile again, a little more rueful this time. "No. But I can only drink human blood. Nothing else will satisfy me."

Yuusuke made a note of that. He could see the disturbed looks Manjoume shot Fubuki and politely cleared his throat. "I think that's enough dinner conversation, and dinner. It's later than I thought it was as well." He stood up, as did the others. Those who hadn't finished their meals clearly had no more appetite left. "We'll see you tomorrow, Ryou. If we can?"

Ryou waved one hand to the candlelit area. "The sun doesn't bother me indoors, so long as the curtains are drawn."

Yuusuke nodded. And remembered that.

 **To Be Continued**

 **Note:** Thank you for reading and I hope that you enjoyed the chapter. Please let me know what you thought of it if at all possible.


	17. Having Help

**Disclaimer:** I own nothing involved in this story unless I invented it myself. This is written for fun, not for profit. All forms of feedback eagerly accepted. Concrit is loved the most, but everything is welcome.  
 **Fandom:** Yu-Gi-Oh GX  
 **Title:** Of the Darkness: Chapter 17: Having Help  
 **Family:** Ryou  & Shou  
 **Other Characters:** Camula  
 **Word Count:** chapter: 1,230|| **story:** 19,215  
 **Genre:** Family, Supernatural|| **Rated:** PG-13  
 **Challenge:** Written for the Diversity Writing Challenge, section J, #006, multi-chapter with 15-25 chapters; Written for the One Sibling Boot Camp, prompt #50, shade  
 **Notes:** It's an AU. It involves vampires.  
 **Summary:** Shou invites his brother in after Ryou returns from a long trip away. That is his first mistake. It only gets worse from there.

* * *

"No, not him." The butcher shook her head as she washed the last of her sharp knives and hung them in their appointed places on the wall. "Perhaps one of the servants up there, but Marufuji Ryou-sama couldn't be a vampire. He's too noble. Too _good_."

Chaos Hunter breathed in and out, trying with all of her might not to lose her temper. She'd heard this so many times in the last few days as she tried to gather help to raid the mansion and put an end to this reign of terror.

"Perhaps he was once, but not now," she tried again. "At least come with me to see for yourself."

The butcher shook her head once more. "I can't spare the time away, and for all we know, the vampire was just passing through. I know you miss him. We all do. But sometimes things happen. It's no more than if he had an accident or some thief stabbed him."

Chaos Hunter breathed again. It was a little less calm this time. "This _is_ different. This is a vampire." How to put all of this into words that people who had never encountered one of the unholy undead could understand? How to put it into words that _meant something_ and would get the results that she needed.

"I'm sorry." The butcher turned to face her head on, and the wild warrior could see sympathy all over her gentle features. "But there's nothing that any of us can do. If you want to try to do something up there, then if you're right, I wish you the best of luck. But I don't think you _are_ right, and I'm certain his Lordship will be gentle with you." A small rueful smile touched her lips. "One of them will be, at least."

Chaos Hunter delivered a small, tight nod, then whirled and stalked out of the butcher's shop, lips pressed together, eyes flashing in concealed anger. If this hadn't been her home and these people hadn't been people that she knew, she would've done so much more, she knew it. How could they be so apathetic? How could they have such trust in people?

"Excuse me." A quiet voice came from the shadows and if she'd been anyone else, she might have jumped fairly out of her skin. As it was, she whirled, whip in hand and ready to defend herself at any cost.

When she saw a slender figure dressed in dark shades there, she blinked. He wasn't either of the Marufujis, nor was he anyone that she recognized at all. "Yes?" She didn't relax all that much. He could still be a thief or a murderer of some kind, or even someone concealed by magic. She would sell her life dearly if it came to that.

"Would you come over here, please? I'd like to speak with you without getting too much attention." His gaze flickered around the town square and she let hers follow for a moment or two. Early morning sunlight filled the air, with people moving this way and that on their first errands of the day.

Her fingers twiddled for a moment on the stock of her whip, then she stalked over toward where he stood. "Who are you and what is it that you want?" If she didn't get some good, useful answers in the next few seconds, she was fully intent on letting him have a few slices of her weapon before she left.

"You know of what's going on at the mansion?" His eyes were a pale lavender, but full of concern, not fear. Chaos Hunter stared back at him, her own eyes narrowed.

"What do _you_ know about that? Who are you?" She had not yet gained her answers. She did not like this at all.

"My name is Fujiwara Yuusuke. I've known Ryou since he and I were small children, and I want to help him now." He raised one hand as she tightened her grip on her whip. "I want to help him become a free person and not a slave to an evil vampire's whims."

Chaos Hunter pulled her whip out, the tip trailing on the ground. She wasn't convinced yet. "Speak sense." She didn't bother with a threat. Threats meant nothing without the ability to back them up.

"He is a vampire. I'm certain you know this already. But he was turned by another and lives under her thrall. What he does isn't what he'd choose to do if he were free-willed." Fujiwara spoke each word with a pain that came directly from his heart. "My friends and I wish to help him get free, but there are not enough of us. We'd like you to help, you and anyone else you can gather from here."

She rolled her eyes at that. "There's no one here who will help. They all think he's so perfect that he can't possibly hurt anyone."

The corner of his mouth quirked upward. "They don't know him as well as they think they do. But will you help?"

Chaos Hunter stared down at him. "What is it that you want of me? And what is it that you _are_?" A childhood friend would have to be more than just a friend to want to help a vampire, in her opinion.

Again he smiled. "A shadow mage. But we can discuss more of what we need to do on the way to the mansion." He turned and headed into the shadows, not looking back. "Come along."

Chaos Hunter stared after him before she followed. She didn't like what was going on here at all. Vampires, shadow mages. What was next? What could possibly be next?

* * *

"Did you hear that?" Ojama Yellow stopped and looked around. "I thought I heard something."

Green and Black looked at each other, then at their younger brother. "What is it?"

"I don't know. It was just something." He hovered onward, stalk-eyes twitching violently as he peered around a door frame. Finding their way around in this place was almost impossible and all three were convinced they'd gotten lost at least twice, if not more. But they hadn't yet found anything that would be worth reporting back to their big brother Manjoume, so they kept on going. None of them had any idea of how long they'd been searching, either. It didn't seem to matter so much if they could come back with useful information anyway.

All three froze the moment they could see what was going on through that door. What lay before them was a sumptuously decorated room, every inch of the walls hung with splendid tapestries, and a large four-poster bed in one corner, draped in satin sheets and with velvet curtains around it.

Seated in the center of the room was a throne-like chair and in that chair sat a woman dressed in red. She held one of the mansion's servants in her grip, her long fingers keeping a firm hold, her head buried against her captive's neck.

The Ojamas knew certain scents very well. The way lightning seared against stone. The aroma of a well cooked meal. But they were not used to the scent of blood or the reek of death, all of which filled this room.

Stifling howls of horror, they fled as quickly as they could, followed by unearthly laughter.

 **To Be Continued**

 **Note:** Thank you for reading and I hope that you enjoyed the chapter. Please let me know what you thought of it if at all possible.


	18. Placing Plans

**Disclaimer:** I own nothing involved in this story unless I invented it myself. This is written for fun, not for profit. All forms of feedback eagerly accepted. Concrit is loved the most, but everything is welcome.  
 **Fandom:** Yu-Gi-Oh GX  
 **Title:** Of the Darkness: Chapter 18: Placing Plans  
 **Family:** Ryou  & Shou  
 **Other Characters:** Camula  
 **Word Count:** chapter: 1,058|| **story:** 20,273  
 **Genre:** Family, Supernatural|| **Rated:** PG-13  
 **Challenge:** Written for the Diversity Writing Challenge, section J, #006, multi-chapter with 15-25 chapters; Written for the One Sibling Boot Camp, prompt #50, shade  
 **Notes:** It's an AU. It involves vampires.  
 **Summary:** Shou invites his brother in after Ryou returns from a long trip away. That is his first mistake. It only gets worse from there.

* * *

"What do you plan to do with this… queen vampire?" Chaos Hunter wanted to know as they moved through the shadows. This wasn't something that she enjoyed at all, but the shadow mage seemed used to it, and talking about plans gave her something else to think about instead of the fact she was doing something that by all rights no one mortal should be able to do.

"If she refuses to release Ryou from her thrall, then we're going to dispose of her." The mage didn't say it in a way that indicated he was very happy about it. That reassured her to some extent; she'd not fallen in with bloodthirsty fools who would attempt to slaughter anything that got in their way.

"And if she does?"

That got a slim shrug. "We'll let her go, so long as she doesn't try to kill any more people. We want our friend to be happy, that's all there is to it. As happy as he can be anyway." A small smile tilted his lips upward. "Ryou isn't one that settles for a simple kind of happiness, anyway. He's...difficult to please."

From what she knew of the local lord, that sounded right. She'd paid little enough attention to him before all of this started and now she'd only begun to make plans on how to kill him.

"How do you know he'd be better than she is once he's freed?" That was more important to her than anything. If he remained the kind of bloodthirsty monster that his 'mistress' clearly was, then what would be the use of freeing him from her in the first place?

"I know because I know Ryou. I've known him since he and Fubuki and I were all children and it's not like him to want to hurt people just for the fun of it." Fujiwara shook his head a fraction. "He's a good person. He can be rough and he has issues on certain things but he's not a wanton killer."

She wasn't entirely certain she believed that, not to the depth that he did, but he did know the other better than she. She would withhold her judgment on that for now.

Without warning the shadows peeled away, replaced by candlelight and lamplight. They now stood inside of a stone-walled room, hung with tapestries, and with a handful of other people there, all of whom looked up with no more concern than if they saw two people emerge from the darkness every day of their lives.

Perhaps they did, if they associated with a wizard of the darkness.

One of them strummed a lute and looked up long enough to give them both a small nod as they appeared. "Is this the one?"

"Yes. She knows about Ryou, and has been trying to get people to help," Fujiwara said, going over to a side table to pour himself a glass of wine.

Chaos Hunter's gaze flicked from one of them to another. "And little enough success I've had with that. The entire village seems fixated on the notion that their liege lord couldn't harm a fly if his life depended on it."

"Yeah, they're kind of stubborn like that. Most of them saw him grow up from a child and even seeing him fight on their behalf doesn't always convince them of what he can do now," the musician said with a simple shrug. "But we can take care of that later. First thing to do is get him away from that vampire so he can make his own choices."

"So I've heard." Chaos Hunter hadn't stopped looking at them all. One of them gave off the familiar air of a shape-shifter; she hadn't met many of those but enough to recognize one when she saw him. The other gave a whiff of magic as well, but not like the shadow worker. His spoke of thunder and lightning and wind and rain.

His look also spoke of a terrible weariness when three small spirits flew in through the door and clung to him, babbling incoherently. The other three visitors at once turned to him, tension rising.

"Can you get anything out of them or are they just going to keep on like that?" The shadow walker wanted to know. He looked just a little more annoyed by them than any of the others, though only by a small amount.

The thunder mage did what he could, though Chaos Hunter herself wasn't certain if repeated snappings to calm down and tell him what they'd seen were going to be all that productive. To her surprise, the yellow one sniffled, rubbed at his eyes, then looked up at his master.

"We… we saw the vampire. The lady one. She's in a really nice room and she was … she was drinking someone's blood!"

"Yes, vampires do that," Chaos Hunter muttered. She had no idea of what they'd been doing wandering around here if they didn't know that. The storm mage waved her to silence and nodded toward the little spirit.

"I don't know who it was, but they looked like they were almost dead already. It just smelled all _wrong_." The spirit shuddered, clinging harder to his master's jacket. "I don't want to go back there, Big Bro, I really don't."

The shadow mage spoke before Chaos Hunter could. "You don't have to. Not so long as you can at least point us in the right direction."

All three of them looked at one another, then one by one nodded, though not a single one of them looked happy about this at all.

"When do we go?" The sooner they got all of this taken care of the better. Chaos Hunter hadn't decided if she wanted to stay in this area at all, but she wanted her vengeance for the loss of her lover more than she wanted to move.

"Not just yet," the musician declared. He turned toward the shape-changer. "We still need to find Shou. Think you can pull that one off, Kenzan?"

That got a grin from the changer and a pumped fist as well. "That's not gonna be any problem at all. And I just want that vampire queen to _try_ and take a bite out of me!"

Chaos Hunter shook her head. Honestly, what _had_ she gotten herself into?

 **To Be Continued**

 **Note:** Thank you for reading and I hope that you enjoyed the chapter. Please let me know what you thought of it if at all possible.


	19. Dark Deeds

**Disclaimer:** I own nothing involved in this story unless I invented it myself. This is written for fun, not for profit. All forms of feedback eagerly accepted. Concrit is loved the most, but everything is welcome.  
 **Fandom:** Yu-Gi-Oh GX  
 **Title:** Of the Darkness: Chapter 19: Dark Deeds  
 **Family:** Ryou  & Shou  
 **Other Characters:** Camula  
 **Pairing:** Fubuki x Manjoume  
 **Word Count:** chapter: 1,069|| **story:** 21,342  
 **Genre:** Family, Supernatural|| **Rated:** PG-13  
 **Challenge:** Written for the Diversity Writing Challenge, section J, #006, multi-chapter with 15-25 chapters; Written for the One Sibling Boot Camp, prompt #50, shade  
 **Notes:** It's an AU. It involves vampires.  
 **Summary:** Shou invites his brother in after Ryou returns from a long trip away. That is his first mistake. It only gets worse from there.

* * *

Shou knew she was still there. He couldn't see her; the bedcurtains remained closed. He couldn't hear her; she was too quiet, much more so than Ryou, who even now made little more noise than a falling leaf. But he knew she was there. Just that simple sense of presence, and stronger than that, the sharp scent of blood as she fed.

He knew that their friends were there. He wanted to get up and meet them, to get their help through all of this. He didn't know yet what Ryou had told them. When Camula was around, it was all but impossible to get any real information out of him, mostly because the vampire queen enjoyed having his brother remain silent while she made her plans.

She wanted to kill them all; _that_ he definitely knew. He wasn't surprised either. Yuusuke's abilities meant that Ryou couldn't hide what he was, which meant that Camula couldn't have him explain it all away with something simple and believable. The presence of the shadow mage changed too much.

Shou thought Kenzan's presence helped too; the shape-changer's sense of smell would prevent her from hiding. Blood followed a vampire and there wasn't a blood-trail that Kenzan couldn't follow.

Not that Shou would tell him that. The big lug didn't need to know how much Shou was counting on him and the others.

He wanted to get up. But Ryou told him to stay where he was and his body refused to disobey. He thought he recalled something about a vampire being able to take control of others, though he couldn't put a finger on the specifics of it. It sounded about right to him, though, as much as he disliked the thought at all.

The bedcurtains rustled back and Camula stood there, looking down at him. Faint traces of blood still stained her lips and he turned his head away. His heart beat faster just at the thought of her being there. What could she want?

"Rise up," she murmured and with no more than those two words, he shifted over, slid out from under the blankets, and rose to his feet. "We have places to go, my little toy, and people who need to be killed." Her eyes darkened in a rage he'd never seen before. "One person in particular will die tonight."

Oh, that sent a very unwelcome chill from the top of his head to the soles of his feet. At her command, he washed and dressed, moving for all the world as if he were under his own power. Yet he remained silent, because she hadn't commanded him to speak.

His eyes continually scanned the room either for any sign of Ryou or for any weapon that could bring her to death and quickly. Even if he'd found that last, he knew with a sinking sense of despair that he couldn't use it against her. Not because he wasn't fast enough or strong enough but because his body answered to her and not to him for now.

For now. He would make certain that changed. He didn't know how. He'd do it anyway. He was a Marufuji. They made a habit of doing the impossible, or so his father had told him once upon a time. He hadn't made a miracle yet, but he hoped he could still pull it off.

At Camula's gesture he followed her out of the room and through the corridors. He knew this place as well as anyone could who'd grown up in it, but he still didn't recognize all of the hallways she took him through. He didn't know if that was because of his mind still being a little out of it because of the control or if she'd found ways that he didn't know. What mattered a little more was that as they moved along, he began to hear small traces of familiar voices.

 _Kenzan! That's Kenzan!_ He wanted to break out into a cheer. Instead, he remained silent and stopped in an alcove at Camula's indication.

 **Remain where you are. Only come out when I tell you that you can. Make no indication that you're there.**

Her voice crept into his mind, a thick and slimy tone that sickened him more than anything else ever had. But he obeyed nevertheless.

* * *

Satisfied that her thrall would remain where she'd commanded, Camula slipped off into the shadows. She had to remain silent and not bring any attention to herself, lest that annoying shadow wizard or the shape-shifter detect her presence.

She should've prevented them from summoning their friends. If she'd suspected beforehand just what the full range of their abilities were, she would have. But the thought of a group of easily fed from and accepting cattle had been far too tempting. Now they roamed her new lair and like any good homeowner, she would have to deal with pest control.

With great caution she peered out from the darkness. They'd recruited that one person who'd spied her pet before and wanted to destroy him. One more person who would either join her new clan or end up dead, that was all. Hardly one to worry about.

She'd made up her mind already that the shadow mage would be one of her new clan. She could feel the bonds that wove him and her pet together and it would keep her pet happy. He'd been annoying lately with regards to his brother, so this would soothe him.

The one who played music she hadn't decided on yet. There wasn't much to make him stand out from the others. Perhaps once she had a taste of his blood she would be able to make up her mind.

The shape-changer would be dead. Shifters could not enter her glorious clan – and good riddance to them, those who mocked the beautiful abilities of vampires – and no one who mattered would miss him.

But the last one, the one that no one had known was coming, he bothered her more than the others. The metallic scent of lightning and magic zipped through his aura, so she knew he was a storm mage. Those had given her people trouble before.

Her eyes narrowed. She could scent something else; the storm mage and the bard were close to one another. Lovers, in fact.

Camula smiled. Perhaps she knew something she could do with the bard after all.

 **To Be Continued**

 **Note:** Thank you for reading and I hope that you enjoyed the chapter. Please let me know what you thought of it if at all possible.


	20. Fateful Finding

**Disclaimer:** I own nothing involved in this story unless I invented it myself. This is written for fun, not for profit. All forms of feedback eagerly accepted. Concrit is loved the most, but everything is welcome.  
 **Fandom:** Yu-Gi-Oh GX  
 **Title:** Of the Darkness: Chapter 20: Fateful Finding  
 **Family:** Ryou  & Shou  
 **Other Characters:** Camula  
 **Word Count:** chapter: 1,118|| **story:** 22,460  
 **Genre:** Family, Supernatural|| **Rated:** PG-13  
 **Challenge:** Written for the Diversity Writing Challenge, section J, #006, multi-chapter with 15-25 chapters; Written for the One Sibling Boot Camp, prompt #50, shade  
 **Notes:** It's an AU. It involves vampires.  
 **Summary:** Shou invites his brother in after Ryou returns from a long trip away. That is his first mistake. It only gets worse from there.

* * *

Kenzan sniffed the air, fingers flexing as he analyzed what he could smell. From the first moment he'd entered the mansion, he'd known there was something wrong there. Far too much blood and death hung in the air. He hadn't liked it then and he liked it even less now, when he knew what was going on. He _wanted_ to find Shou and help him and his brother get out of there before whatever it was happened to him. He refused to leave his friend in this kind of place, no matter what.

He didn't recognize every scent, and he didn't know if that was because he didn't know every servant in the place or because of something that vampire had done. He could find _that_ scent easily enough. Vampires smelled of death and blood. Even Ryou had smelled of it, though it had been kind of faint.

 _There's another one, though. Closer. Stronger._ Another scent ghosted under that, one that teased and taunted at his nostrils and memories, telling him that this was one that he knew, and knew well also. And that scent could only belong to one person in this place.

For the most part he ignored what everyone else was doing and sniffed around, trying to locate where that undertone scent came from. The vampire scent was stronger, but he didn't care about that. Finding that scent, _Shou's_ scent, was far more important.

He turned a corner, only mildly aware that he'd left the others behind. He could still hear them; they weren't that far away. But now he could scent Shou that much closer and he could hear him, too. Tiny little movements, little more than someone breathing, but it all clicked in his mind and he darted forward to one of the alcoves, yanking the concealing curtain aside.

"Shou!" He knew Shou always hated his toothy grin but he didn't care about that now, far more delighted by the fact he'd found him. "What're you doing in here?" Shouldn't he have been in bed or something? Kenzan's nose told him the other wasn't completely well, and the way those wide gray eyes widened further at the sight of him confirmed that.

Shou tried to inch back into the alcove, his mouth working a little, but nothing coming out of it. Kenzan held out a hand.

"Come on, everyone else wants to see you." He leaned in closer when Shou didn't take it, whispering. "It's okay. We know about that vampire. We're gonna get rid of her."

Shou's eyes had always been large, but now Kenzan thought for certain they'd expand right out of his head. What was his problem? Kenzan stared down at him, trying to piece this together.

"Don't you want to come out of there?" There had to be a reason for this. He wasn't the most intellectual of beings, but Kenzan knew that there was no way Shou would choose a random alcove and hide himself in it for the rest of time. Something just wasn't right.

Granted, _nothing_ seemed right in the Marufuji household right now.

Shou's nod was tiny but noticeable even in the dim lantern light. Kenzan kept his hand held out.

"Then come on. Let's go." Something about this began to nudge at the edges of his awareness. He wished he'd studied vampires and what they could do more. Maybe that would've helped him figure it out.

Shou bit his lip a little. He looked paler than Kenzan remembered seeing him, but he didn't have the scent of death and blood that marked a vampire. Kenzan didn't think that was the problem.

Shou's lips moved a little. He didn't make noise at all, but Kenzan recognized he was saying something. Lip-reading wasn't his best skill either, but he tried. It helped a lot that Shou wasn't saying anything very complicated.

 _I can't. She told me not to._

As far as Kenzan knew, that would be more of a reason to leave as soon as possible, but he had to guess that made sense to Shou. He tapped his fingers on one arm, thinking.

"Kenzan?" Fubuki's voice floated down the corridor. "Kenzan, are you there?"

"I'm here!" Kenzan turned away a little, toward the way he'd come. "Shou's here too! But he won't move out of here!"

Another few moments and the rest of the group stood there staring down at Shou. Fujiwara tilted his head in thought.

"You're still human," he said, "but you have to obey her. She's made you a thrall?"

Shou started to nod, then shook his head. Before Fujiwara could say anything else, a voice rose from behind them.

"No. I did."

And there stood Ryou. He moved by them all until he stood in front of Shou as well, one hand reaching out to rest on his brother's shoulder. "He started searching for her and she wanted me to kill him. This was the only thing I could bring myself to do."

So far as Kenzan was concerned, not being able to do what he wanted to do was _worse_ than death. He growled low and harsh, clawed fingers digging into his hands. Ryou barely seemed to notice.

"I don't know what she's planning. But -"

A low, evil laugh, the very epitome of evil, rippled throughout the corridor. "But I think it's time that you all found out. My plan is very simple. Those of you who can will join my family. The ones who can't will die. What else do you need to know?"

Kenzan snarled, head coming up. He couldn't tell where she was; the echoes made that far more difficult than it should have been. But she was somewhere around anyway. Blood and death filled the air, more than what would've been there by Ryou's presence. He just couldn't tell _where_.

"It's not all that easy killing us, you know," Fubuki said, his voice far too light and cheerful. Kenzan, and everyone else there save for Camula, knew exactly what that meant. None of them wanted to inform her. Surprises were good for the soul.

"Why don't we find out, then, bard?" Camula's voice came from somewhere much closer now, and all of them turned to see one slender white arm clamping down around Fubuki's neck. "You could be an interesting addition to my clan. What do you taste like, I wonder?"

Manjoume eyed her warily, lightning sparking at the end of his fingers. "I wouldn't do that if I were you."

The vampire queen laughed, long and hard. "How wonderful is it that you're not, then. Behave yourself, lightning mage, or your lover will be more than my next meal. You might become _his_ first."

 **To Be Continued**

 **Note:** Thank you for reading and I hope that you enjoyed the chapter. Please let me know what you thought of it if at all possible.


	21. Dangerous Darkness

**Disclaimer:** I own nothing involved in this story unless I invented it myself. This is written for fun, not for profit. All forms of feedback eagerly accepted. Concrit is loved the most, but everything is welcome.  
 **Fandom:** Yu-Gi-Oh GX  
 **Title:** Of the Darkness: Chapter 21: Dangerous Darkness  
 **Family:** Ryou  & Shou  
 **Other Characters:** Camula  
 **Word Count:** chapter: 1,101|| **story:** 23,561  
 **Genre:** Family, Supernatural|| **Rated:** PG-13  
 **Challenge:** Written for the Diversity Writing Challenge, section J, #006, multi-chapter with 15-25 chapters; Written for the One Sibling Boot Camp, prompt #50, shade  
 **Notes:** It's an AU. It involves vampires.  
 **Summary:** Shou invites his brother in after Ryou returns from a long trip away. That is his first mistake. It only gets worse from there.

* * *

Camula's arm tightened more around Fubuki. He shifted, not so much trying to ease her grip as he was trying to get a hand into one pocket without her realizing it. He caught first Ryou's eye, then Yuusuke's, and finally Manjoume's. He couldn't say anything; if she had any idea of what he had in mind, then she'd make certain he didn't have a chance to do it.

But they knew what he was capable of. They knew what he would be thinking. It wouldn't stop her, but it would save him, and make certain that they were free to put an end to her.

He'd made that sacrifice before and he never liked doing it. But when he had no other choice, he would always make this one.

"I don't think you can do that," Yuusuke said, keeping his attention on Camula and not Fubuki or Ryou. "There's a great deal more to Fubuki than you realize."

The vampire queen laughed, the sound grating in Fubuki's ears. "He's no mage. I would know if he were one. And he's certainly no warrior."

"That's true," Fubuki agreed, wincing the words out even as his fingers dipped into his pocket. He could feel the silk that he kept his goal wrapped in brush against his fingertips. "My sister's the warrior in the family. You should be glad that she's not here. She wouldn't like the idea of you doing this. Not that I'm all that fond of you trying to bruise my throat, either. I make a living with my voice!"

Her grip tightened more, until he couldn't speak at all. "Be quiet," Camula snarled unnecessarily. Her gaze shifted back to Manjoume. "Now, you, storm mage. If you so much as make a move that I don't like, your bard lover pays the price for it."

Ryou started to shift toward and now her gaze shot over to him. "Stay where you are, pet. Make certain that the shape changer and the shadow mage don't do anything." Now her gaze moved over to Shou. "You, come out of there now. _You_ I want to watch her." Camula jerked her head to indicate Chaos Hunter, who stood with the end of her whip trailing the ground. "If she makes a move, stop her."

The idea of someone as short as Shou, who even at his full growth didn't come much past five feet tall, stopping someone like Chaos Hunter broke a small laugh out of Fubuki. Strangled and harsh, but a laugh all the same. Camula shifted her grip a little, but while it made it even harder for him to talk, it freed his arm just a little more so he could get it into his pocket.

Almost there. Almost _there_.

"Now, it's time to see what your blood tastes like, bard," Camula hissed. Manjoume shook his head sharply.

"You said you wouldn't hurt him unless I did something!" The Ojamas appeared next to him, nodding in agreement. Fubuki had to admire their sense of timing, even if Manjoume looked like he wanted to squash them all right now.

Camula's hot breath ghosted against the side of Fubuki's neck. "No, I said if you did something I'd hurt him. But this isn't hurting. This is _dinner_."

Fubuki could feel her fangs now. No more time to waste! He shoved his hand all the way into his pocket and yanked out the silk-wrapped object. The wrappings fell away and his fingers closed firmly on the mask hidden beneath it. Camula's grip loosened, more from surprise than anything else he felt, and he took the chance to wrench himself away from her.

"What are you -" And then she saw the mask and he gave her no more time to work with before slamming it onto his face.

* * *

Everyone in the room except Chaos Hunter and Camula had seen this before, at least once. It wasn't a sight that any of them _liked_ but they all knew it was something that had to be done, if only to keep Fubuki from becoming one of Camula's victims.

Dark energy, deeper and more dangerous than anything Yuusuke would ever attempt to control, swirled around Fubuki, then settled into him. His clothes transformed, going from the casual motley of a traveling bard to black and gray robes, with a long cloak trailing from his shoulders. The mask remained on his face, and while the features behind were the same, now the expression twisted from genial pleasure to mocking disdain.

"A vampire?" He looked Camula up and down. "How ridiculous."

Camula reached for him again, but this time he easily batted her away, a trail of shadowy energy following from his fingers. "Don't presume to lay a hand on _Darkness_ , vampire."

Dismissing her as of little consequence for the moment, the demon possessing Fubuki turned to look at them all. There was little camaraderie in his gaze, though clear recognition rested there. He knew who Fubuki's companions were. He turned toward Ryou at the last.

"I would've thought _you_ of all of us would've resisted her," he mused before he shrugged liquidly. "But even you have wanted to taste the darkness, you know." His lips curved into a wicked smile. "I never thought you'd want it to taste you."

"Can you quit with the bad jokes and do something constructive?" Manjoume snapped. He'd never liked Darkness being around. He'd never not worry that sooner or later, he'd never give Fubuki's body back to him.

Darkness eyed them all again, ghosts of amusement chasing around his features. "Why should I? So long as I'm here she can't harm Fubuki and that's all _I_ care about."

"Perhaps we could make a bargain, then?" Camula edged forward, a hunger of a different kind gleaming in her eyes. "I could promise to never harm your host, demon, in exchange for the use of your power."

Darkness turned his attention back to her. "You can't harm my host anyway. You are nothing but a _vampire_. I am a _demon_." The difference in power between them shone brilliantly and clear. "And you have nothing at all to offer me that I can't already have in ways that cause me far less trouble than your very existence does."

Camula began to say something else. This time her words were cut off by the strike of a whip and being yanked backwards. Chaos Hunter's weapon now wrapped around the vampire's throat.

"Can we forget the bargains and the posturing and just _kill her already_?" The hunter wanted to know.

Darkness smiled. "I think I like you."

 **To Be Continued**

 **Note:** Thank you for reading and I hope that you enjoyed the chapter. Please let me know what you thought of it if at all possible.


	22. Illuminating Idea

**Disclaimer:** I own nothing involved in this story unless I invented it myself. This is written for fun, not for profit. All forms of feedback eagerly accepted. Concrit is loved the most, but everything is welcome.  
 **Fandom:** Yu-Gi-Oh GX  
 **Title:** Of the Darkness: Chapter 22: Illuminating Idea  
 **Family:** Ryou  & Shou  
 **Other Characters:** Camula  
 **Word Count:** chapter: 1,087|| **story:** 24,648  
 **Genre:** Family, Supernatural|| **Rated:** PG-13  
 **Challenge:** Written for the Diversity Writing Challenge, section J, #006, multi-chapter with 15-25 chapters; Written for the One Sibling Boot Camp, prompt #50, shade  
 **Notes:** It's an AU. It involves vampires.  
 **Summary:** Shou invites his brother in after Ryou returns from a long trip away. That is his first mistake. It only gets worse from there.

* * *

Camula wrapped her fingers around the whip and pulled, not caring how it cut against her neck. She was no human who could be held against her will by something so simple! This mortal would know how foolish she'd been to attack the Queen of the Vampires!

Chaos Hunter tightened her grip, shoving the vampire against the nearest wall and pressing against her shoulders with her free arm. "You're not getting away that easily. My whip is enchanted to restrain creatures like you. So just wait patiently until we decide who gets to kill you."

Camula laughed despite the pressure on her neck. "Oh, you fool. Do you really think this is all that you would have to do in order to destroy me? Don't you even _remember_ what I've done already?"

The hunter started to say something else, but her words were cut off when Ryou's hand closed around her neck and he pulled her away from Camula with little more effort than he might've used to flick away a fly. He stood before the vampire, every line of his body in a defensive posture, and she reached up to run her fingers through his hair.

"Did you forget I have two slaves here, who will obey my every command?" Camula's lips twisted into a dark smile, one that showed her dagger-like fangs. "Or did you think that they would serve _your_ cause when they belong to _me_?"

"I think we need to regroup a little," Yuusuke murmured, moving carefully to go check on Chaos Hunter, who hadn't moved since slamming into the stone wall.

Camula stretched out her arms, shadows dancing and swirling all around them as she did. "What you need to do is stop trying to avoid your fate and bow down to _me_."

Darkness waved one hand and the shadows gathered closer to him, twisting and mutating until a small army of gray creatures stood between her and him. "No." The creatures hissed in unison, soft murmurs and whispers echoing all around as they glared at her.

Yuusuke urged the hunter to her feet; her eyes remained a trifle glazed, but her steps were steady as they moved back. Camula moved forward herself, fury blazing all through her.

"How _dare_ you!" More words than that failed her and she gestured again, this time sending Ryou in front of her. Shou now stood by her side, large eyes wide with anger and fear, and Kenzan's growl echoed all throughout the corridor at the sight of him like that.

He didn't stop with a growl, either. A ripple of energy washed all over him and left scales and strength in its wake, along with the slit eyes of a lizard and a mouth full of teeth sharp and numerous enough to combat a vampire with.

"Try whatever tricks you like! Nothing you can do can stop us!" Camula howled, gesturing Ryou forward again, this time turning him toward Manjoume. "Destroy the storm mage, my pet! End him!"

 _Why Manjoume?_ Yuusuke's thoughts flashed swift and strong, if a bit confused. _Storm mages are powerful, but they shouldn't be that much of a threat to her, especially with Darkness here._ Was she afraid of what she could, or couldn't, do to the demon?

Or was Manjoume more of a threat than he'd thought? Yuusuke knew he had to solve this dilemma quickly, before Ryou actually did kill Manjoume.

Well, he could do something about that, at least, right now. He reached out and caught hold of webs of shadow, casting them around his old friend. "Ryou, I can't let you do that."

Ryou froze where he was, the web wrapping all around him and pinning him. As a creature of darkness, willing or not, Yuusuke's powers held quite strong against him. Yuusuke did not want to know what could happen if something released him. The ideas he already had were bad enough.

Yuusuke thought he saw a glint of thanks in the other's eyes. He wasn't surprised; Ryou had his bad points, but the slaughter of innocents wasn't one of them.

Camula started forward toward Manjoume on her own, claws sharp and dangerous, but Kenzan leaped in front of her, snarling and snapping. Chaos Hunter stumbled forward, whip still in her hands, and eyes gleaming with rage as well. One side of her face remained scraped and bloody from her contact with the wall, and Yuusuke wouldn't have wagered on her being able to actually fight. But she stood between Manjoume and Camula and she would not move.

With Ryou restrained and Camula blocked off by Kenzan and the hunter, the only other problem point was Shou. No sooner had he realized that then Yuusuke looked and saw Darkness standing near enough to the poor thrall to stop him if he did try anything. So for a few moments, at least, he was free to figure out what was going on.

Camula deemed Manjoume, a storm mage, a threat. The only threats he knew of to a vampire involved wood, holy items wielded by those of true faith, and fire. Nothing else could permanently end a vampire. There were minor tools that could inconvenience one, such as roses and garlic, but they did little more than ward a vampire away.

A storm mage could call a storm, thunder, wind, rain, lightning, wherever and whenever they chose. The strength of it would depend on what the weather was like already, but even in a time of perfect clear skies, a storm mage could call rain and wind. Many of them made their living with that, going from town to town to keep crops watered and rivers flowing.

Manjoume could call lightning from clear skies, though it left him weak for days afterward.

Lightning… _fire_.

Yuusuke scrambled toward Manjoume; the shadow web he'd used to keep Ryou in check might not last much longer and if it failed, then they would have to face Ryou again. They needed to end this and to end it, they needed to end Camula, and now Yuusuke knew how.

He grabbed hold of Manjoume's shoulder and pulled him around to get his attention. They were deep in the mansion, away from any windows. Camula might well have planned on that very thing. So that was the first thing that needed to be finished.

"Get outside," he whispered quickly, "get outside and call the biggest storm that you can. That's why she wants you dead. You're the only one who can _kill her_."

 **To Be Continued**

 **Note:** Thank you for reading and I hope that you enjoyed the chapter. Please let me know what you thought of it if at all possible.


	23. Storm Spell

**Disclaimer:** I own nothing involved in this story unless I invented it myself. This is written for fun, not for profit. All forms of feedback eagerly accepted. Concrit is loved the most, but everything is welcome.  
 **Fandom:** Yu-Gi-Oh GX  
 **Title:** Of the Darkness: Chapter 23: Storm Spell  
 **Family:** Ryou  & Shou  
 **Other Characters:** Camula  
 **Word Count:** chapter: 1,141|| **story:** 25,789  
 **Genre:** Family, Supernatural|| **Rated:** PG-13  
 **Challenge:** Written for the Diversity Writing Challenge, section J, #006, multi-chapter with 15-25 chapters; Written for the One Sibling Boot Camp, prompt #50, shadeBR? **Notes:** It's an AU. It involves vampires.  
 **Summary:** Shou invites his brother in after Ryou returns from a long trip away. That is his first mistake. It only gets worse from there.

* * *

Manjoume ran. On some level it was because of what Yuusuke said. But on another, one that he chose not to examine very deeply, it was because there was a crazed vampire queen who wanted to kill him and anyone with a single grain of sense – and he prided himself on having entire loads of sense – would have run at that thought.

There was one problem with his running, though. He didn't know the Marufuji manor half as well as either of the Marufujis or Fubuki or Yuusuke did. Even Kenzan knew it better than he did. But this was his first trip and all he had to go on were wild instincts and three Ojamas who continually pointed in three different directions and babbled instructions that wouldn't have made sense even if he had time to stand still and listen to them.

 _Which way do I go?_ He could still hear Camula screeching behind him, but not quite close enough to hear just she was saying. That was good for him. He knew she'd have to follow him to make his half-formed plan – if it could even be called that – to work. But he wanted to already be outside when she caught up to him.

"That way!" Ojama Yellow pointed to one of the three corridors that spread out before him. "That goes outside!"

"No, that one does!" Ojama Green insisted, pointing to a different one entirely. "That one takes too long, this one is shorter!"

Ojama Black looked over his shoulder and just screamed, darting down a different one altogether. Manjoume bit off a few words, chose not to look behind him, and followed the spirit, hoping he didn't regret this.

He regretted it. Very quickly, in fact, as a spatter of quick footsteps and another shriek of alarm, this time from all three Ojamas, revealed Shou having caught up with him.

How the kid had gotten past everyone else Manjoume had _no_ idea and he didn't think that now was a good time to ask. Instead, he hurried along, breathing in, searching for the faintest hint of fresh air, anything that would let him know he was on the right track.

Shou said nothing at all. He kept after him, silent and scary for someone who barely reached Manjoume's shoulder. Manjoume didn't try to look at him. The Ojamas kept doing that and letting him know whenever Shou got closer, so he could choose another corridor to run down.

At the same time, he began to gather the energy inside of himself, the first trailing whispers that meant he was going to call the storm, the thunder and the lightning, that which sang along his veins and made him the mage that he was. He would need to get that ready so when he did find the exit, he would be ready to call it at the right moment.

And again the Ojamas called for him to turn, and this time when he did, he could feel a sudden gust of wind, and his eyes widened to realize that while he couldn't see the outdoors yet, he was much closer than he had been.

 _How did that happen? Was I just lucky?_ Thoughts for another time. Now he hurried even faster, glad of his comfortable black outfit and the well-sprung black boots that he can run in, trying not to think of anything but how fast he needed to go.

"Hey, did we lose him?" Ojama Green asked his brothers, and Manjoume couldn't even begin to believe that. No, that wasn't the luck that he had. Shou would turn up before they got outside. Maybe even going in front of them.

So he ran faster. He had to stop that from happening.

He'd lost track of time once they'd begun to search and when he saw the thin line of light on the horizon, he had no idea if it were sunrise or sunset. He didn't dare count on it being sunrise. Again, that was not his luck.

Manjoume stumbled over something. He didn't know what it was, only that it was heavy and doing so sent him stumbling, sprawling face-first onto the stone floor. He remained where he was, breathing harder and trying to sort his thoughts out, before another step brought him back to his feet. He knew without having to look who that step belonged to. The Ojamas made it plain. They were like three extra sets of eyes.

Ones that he couldn't close and which never wanted to look where he wanted to, but extra eyes all the same.

Shou still remained behind him. Manjoume could see what was on the floor now: a heavy lock, twisted and broken. A gust of clear, faintly rain-scented air blew in the door the lock had once held shut.

A thousand more questions sprang into his mind and Manjoume ignored them all. He stumbled outward, breathing in the clean air, so different from that vampire-tainted mansion. He didn't think there was anything that could clean it up, even if Camula died. The stench, for all the short time she'd called it her own, clung too much to the stones.

Now he turned. Now he readied himself. Shou stood in the doorway, a tiny smile on his lips. Manjoume dared not ask why. Instead he watched as Shou moved to the side, and now Camula stood in the doorway herself, eyes blazing red with rage that seemed a little too great for him just having run away and come out where he could kill her.

He really, really wanted to catch up on what happened while he'd been doing that. Later. He promised himself.

"Storm mage. Surrender now. All of your allies are gone. You're the only one."

 _Fubuki._ His heart skipped a beat. The wind gusted harder. Bolts of lightning flickered pale across the sky. "No."

Camula stepped forward, standing on the first step outside the door. "Foolish boy. You have nothing left to fight for. Surrender and I might make you one of my own."

"Not a chance." He could spare no more words than that. He spun his magic upward, readying it. "I already know who I am and you can't change that."

Her lip curled. Her fangs gleamed sharp as she darted forward, hands resting without warning on his shoulders. "Who _were_ you, then?"

He couldn't have been handed a better line. Fubuki would be proud.

"I am … one..."

Her eyes widened as she felt the strength of his magic weaving around her and him both.

"Ten..."

She wanted to move back, but now he held onto her, despite how she battered at him.

"Hundred..."

Each word he spoke in far less breath than it would take to tell. Now he was ready. Now he called it.

" _Manjoume Thunder_!"

And the thunder roared.

 **To Be Continued**

 **Note:** Thank you for reading and I hope that you enjoyed the chapter. Please let me know what you thought of it if at all possible.


	24. Breaking Bonds

**Disclaimer:** I own nothing involved in this story unless I invented it myself. This is written for fun, not for profit. All forms of feedback eagerly accepted. Concrit is loved the most, but everything is welcome.  
 **Fandom:** Yu-Gi-Oh GX  
 **Title:** Of the Darkness: Chapter 24: Breaking Bonds  
 **Family:** Ryou  & Shou  
 **Other Characters:** Camula  
 **Word Count:** chapter: 1,127|| **story:** 26,916  
 **Genre:** Family, Supernatural|| **Rated:** PG-13  
 **Challenge:** Written for the Diversity Writing Challenge, section J, #006, multi-chapter with 15-25 chapters; Written for the One Sibling Boot Camp, prompt #50, shade  
 **Notes:** It's an AU. It involves vampires.  
 **Summary:** Shou invites his brother in after Ryou returns from a long trip away. That is his first mistake. It only gets worse from there.

* * *

Very seldom in his life had Ryou been so grateful that Yuusuke's magic was as strong as it was. Only a powerful mage could've kept him ensnared this long and that was what kept all of those who were alive at the moment _still_ alive.

Chaos Hunter could not last much longer, he thought, not with how hard he'd thrown her into the wall. That wasn't stopping her from standing against Camula, though.

Moments after Manjoume ran out of there as if all the hounds of hell were after him, Camula leaped for Chaos Hunter, claws digging into her neck. Kenzan tackled her from the side, his own claws slicing into the vampire. He wouldn't be able to do much damage, but it distracted her from doing anything else.

A vampire's hearing was far more acute than a human's. Ryou knew what Yuusuke had told Manjoume, which meant Manjoume needed a guide out of there. The mansion's corridors could be far too complex to get through in only a few minutes unless someone knew them the way that he did.

Or the way that Shou did.

He could see where Darkness stood near Shou, keeping an eye on him so his brother couldn't interfere in the fight if Camula ordered him to. He would have to do this carefully to tread his way through the web of commands Camula had laid on him, and he could only hope that Shou _could_ do what he needed him to do.

"Shou," he murmured softly, "follow Manjoume to the side door." That was the closest one; it led to a small courtyard and was frequently used to get to the stables. "Make sure he gets there." That was all he dared to say.

Shou was his thrall. He obeyed Camula because Ryou had to obey Camula, but in the heat of battle, the vampire queen wasn't paying any attention to issue any contrary commands.

Ryou lifted his gaze to meet Darkness's. He and the demon had never gotten along well at all; mostly because one of the first times he'd used Fubuki's body, it had been Ryou who defeated him in combat to seal him away. Darkness and Fubuki had become more of a balanced team in the fullness of time, but that didn't make Darkness a friend to any of them. He was a useful ally, nothing more, and one that wasn't always tamed.

But now a small, amazingly amused smile touched on Darkness's lips and he stepped back to let Shou go, fleeing the room nearly as quickly as Manjoume himself had gone. Shou clearly had recovered much more than Ryou initially thought, and that was all to the good.

Camula slammed Chaos Hunter into the wall, burying her fangs in the hunter's neck, and drank quickly. It wasn't enough to satisfy her thirst, but it quenched her rage to a small extent, enough that she could realize what had happened. It did not make her any happier, by any means.

"Do you truly think that one little storm mage can defeat me?" she hissed as she turned to where Ryou stood ensnared in dark magic. With a stretch and a twist of her hands, the web of shadows shattered. " _Kill_ this shadow mage, my pet. And make it hurt. Make him regret ever raising a hand against us."

Ryou didn't know if she'd even noticed Shou wasn't there anymore and now he had something else occupying his mind. He barely noticed her darting down the way Manjoume and Shou had disappeared, all of his focus now on Yuusuke.

Yuusuke didn't make any feeble attempts to stop Ryou. He knew as well as Ryou did it wouldn't do any good. Unless Camula's own hold over Ryou ended, Yuusuke would die at his hands. It might take time, depending on how well Yuusuke could defend himself, but it would happen.

At the moment, Yuusuke could defend himself very well. He moved into the shadows, keeping himself visible enough so Ryou didn't look for other people to use as hostages, but not so much that Ryou could grab onto him himself.

They all knew this was nothing more than a holding action, something they had to dance out for another few minutes. Ryou could scent blood in the air and knew it for Chaos Hunter's. It wasn't enough for him to want to feed, but it caught his attention enough so that Yuusuke could lash at him with a bolt of dark lightning, searing him from top to toe.

"You're supposed to be killing me, remember?" Yuusuke reminded him, a dark tilt to his lips. Ryou returned the expression.

"I won't forget again." There had always been a connection between the two of them, different from what bound the three of them, or Ryou to Fubuki or Yuusuke to Fubuki. For years Ryou had entertained the notion of exploring what could be, if Yuusuke were willing. Now, perhaps… if all of this had some kind of favorable outcome…

He darted forward; for Yuusuke to use his magic like that, he needed to be out of the shadows. Before the mage could go back into them, Ryou's hand closed on his wrist and he pulled him closer, the sudden rush of fear intoxicating to Ryou's vampiric sense. If his heart could beat still, it would've done so faster at how close Yuusuke was to him now.

There were others there, but all of Ryou's focus now centered on Yuusuke. He had to kill him. He had to make it hurt. Camula had not said how to do so. There was a way…

He'd resisted turning Shou, but Camula had wanted that. Camula wanted him to kill Yuusuke and he could resist that to some extent…

His breath, unnecessary for life but in his lungs all the same, stuttered. He could do it. He could make Yuusuke one of them, and then…

Thunder rocked the mansion. Lightning as bright as sunlight lit up everything, even burrowing here, if only in the faintest gleam.

Something snapped: the tie that bound Ryou to Camula and forced him to obey her will, even if he could twist it to his own ends at times. His fingers flexed and he stepped back, releasing Yuusuke, taking more breaths that he didn't need but wouldn't do without now.

Slowly, ever so slowly, he lifted his head and looked around at the others. For the first time since he'd awakened at Camula's call, he could make up his own mind without worrying that she'd negate it somehow. A slow, rich smile tilted his lips upward.

"It's over. She'd gone." He could never have done it himself. Nor could Shou. But now they could chart their own courses once again.

 **To Be Continued**

 **Note:** Thank you for reading and I hope that you enjoyed the chapter. Please let me know what you thought of it if at all possible.


	25. Expectant Ending

**Disclaimer:** I own nothing involved in this story unless I invented it myself. This is written for fun, not for profit. All forms of feedback eagerly accepted. Concrit is loved the most, but everything is welcome.  
 **Fandom:** Yu-Gi-Oh GX  
 **Title:** Of the Darkness: Chapter 25: Expectant Ending  
 **Family:** Ryou  & Shou  
 **Other Characters:** Camula  
 **Word Count:** chapter: 1,126|| **story:** 28,042  
 **Genre:** Family, Supernatural|| **Rated:** PG-13  
 **Challenge:** Written for the Diversity Writing Challenge, section J, #006, multi-chapter with 15-25 chapters; Written for the One Sibling Boot Camp, prompt #50, shade  
 **Notes:** It's an AU. It involves vampires.  
 **Summary:** Shou invites his brother in after Ryou returns from a long trip away. That is his first mistake. It only gets worse from there.

* * *

"She'll need an actual healer if she's going to survive," Yuusuke proclaimed, looking down at Chaos Hunter. Aside from various bumps, scrapes, bites, and horror on various scales, the hunter was the worst casualty of them all. Ryou counted as that himself, as his vampirism did not end with Camula's death. Only his slavery to her had and he accepted that much.

"I'll check with the village," Shou said, rubbing the back of his neck. "But what are we going to do after that?" He glanced at Ryou with slights hints of nervousness in his eyes. Ryou didn't blame him for that. By all rights Shou was the master of the mansion and all that came with the family.

Ryou was, after all, dead. He just hadn't stopped walking, talking, and interacting with the living, and wouldn't for some time to come. Unfortunately, part of that interacting with the living including having to drink their blood.

At least he could make his own choices on that now, though. He owed Manjoume for his freedom, and a Marufuji always paid his debts.

Something else came first, though: the answer to Shou's question. "I'm going to leave," he said. All conscious eyes turned to him at once. "I can't stay here. It isn't a big enough hunting ground for me, and someone else will learn what I am soon enough." That was if Chaos Hunter didn't recover and take it into her head to go after him personally. He would neither blame her nor be surprised.

"But where would you go?" Fubuki wanted to know, corners of his mouth turning down. "It's a big world."

Ryou turned his attention briefly to the outdoors, then back. "I know. That's why I don't know. But it also doesn't matter. I'm going to travel." A vampire needed a lot of territory to avoid overhunting an area. It would take him time to find a place suitable, if there even was one. He didn't know how vampires like Camula, born into the breed, could do it, and he didn't want to ask any of them. He would find his own way, as he always had.

Yuusuke rested a warm hand on his shoulder. "You won't go alone." He said nothing else on the matter. Ryou considered telling him that was foolishness, that it would be best if he made his journey to nowhere alone, but Yuusuke only gave him a look, as if he'd read Ryou's mind and knew what he was thinking.

As if he needed to, really. But the thought of having company didn't really displease him that much.

Fubuki's frown vanished as if a cloud had passed away from the sun. "We'll _all_ go! I'm a bard anyway, and I should get out, see the world more, make up some more songs… that aren't about Asuka, she's really getting on me about that." Now he grinned, wild and happy as he'd always been. "The adventures of a bard, a storm mage, a wizard of shadows, a shape shifter, and a vampire, seeking their fortunes in the world together! Can you imagine all the songs that I could write about that?"

Ryou cast a look toward Shou. "You'll be all right so long as you don't taste any more of my blood in the next few weeks." He wouldn't leave Shou as a thrall, not now that Camula was no more. Shou deserved to have a life of his own, without his brother's curse hanging over his head.

Shou looked at him, set his hands on his hips, and glared in a way that could only remind Ryou of himself. "I'm going with you."

Ryou started to make a motion toward the rest of the mansion; someone had to take care of this place and they were the only two left in the family line. But Shou shook his head before he could lift his hand properly.

"You need me, big brother." _And I need you,_ he thought, the words as clear to Ryou as if he'd spoken them out loud. "We can have someone else take care of this place. I bet she'd do it, and keep a really good eye out for anyone trying to do something they shouldn't." He jerked his head towards Chaos Hunter. "We can come by and visit now and then to make sure everything's going all right." He met Ryou's eyes without a shred of fear. "Is there any other reason that I shouldn't go with you?"

Ryou wanted to tell him that he would be in danger. But he would be there himself. The others could protect him when Ryou himself couldn't. Shou knew how to defend himself as well, even accounting for his smaller size.

There would be danger, but that was true for everyone. Fighting Shou on this wouldn't change anything.

Shou was a Marufuji. They were stubborn. Ryou knew that from personal experience.

"All right." There still remained so much that they needed to do, and they weren't certain yet if Chaos Hunter would even survive to become regent during their absence, or that she'd want to, despite what Shou thought. There were people who should know about what had happened to him and while Camula had made plans to carve out her own clan, she might have had relatives still living who wanted to know about her. He would have to deal with them. He'd already made up his mind that finding them would be his first goal once they left.

With that settled, Shou headed down to the village to hunt up a healer, while the others did what they could to get a little rest. The surviving servants, few as those were, brought in what remained in the kitchen. Ryou turned anything they offered him down; he would not feed from any of them again, even if they offered it to him freely. He'd done that more than enough.

Instead, he moved quietly into his old room, making certain to draw the curtain, and rested away from the light.

He'd thought himself dead once, when Camula cast her wicked spell that sapped the strength from his body and prevented him from defending himself when she'd bitten him. Some would say that the existence he faced now was worse than death.

But he had his brother. He had friends who knew him for what he was and not only did not fear him but if he stepped over the lines he drew for himself, they would stop him in any way they had to. He had much to look forward to.

He wouldn't know if it was worse than death until he found death itself, but for a new life, he thought it would do just fine.

 **The End**

 **Note:** Thank you for reading and I hope that you enjoyed the story. Please let me know what you thought of it if at all possible.


End file.
